Better Better Best
Hiya, What if you looked around at people and thought that they were doing their very best. What would change in your dealings with them? Would you be as disappointed? Would you stop expecting and putting pressure on others? Would you lose all hope for humanity because you would think that if this was the best they could do then we are simply doomed? I understand all of those feelings and hope that you can see that understanding this idea, that we are doing our best, isn't condoning behavior we don't enjoy, it is being open to what is… it is acceptance which allows for forward movement.
When you go through life you don't think about what you can fail at, generally. You tend to think about things that will make you happy that you want to do, places that you want to go, music, friends, etc. You are not thinking, overall, how you can be mediocre at things. You aren't thinking about how you can disappoint people and make them wish you were better than you are. When we get upset with someone for not living up to an expectation or doing something that we don't want, or being a way that we don't like, and then we put that feeling, that disappointment on them, we are also doing our best. What we need to begin to do is understand that and let go of the anger and sadness associated with being let down by our own hopes and dreams that never existed in reality.
Everyone is struggling with something. Everyone has trouble figuring out how to please everyone. Everyone is afraid and exhausted. Everyone is trying to be loved, ultimately. When we recognize that love is the motivation for all living things we can stop our judgement around whether what someone is doing is good enough. It may not be what you want, but it is what is and that is all. When you begin to see others as beings working on their sh*t in a multitude of ways, including doing things you would never or that you feel aren't in their or your best interest, they are still working and doing and being. It takes us all the amount of time it takes us to figure out how to do better than the day before. It certainly doesn't help to be constantly judged for things you cannot change. When you adopt the attitude that others are doing their best, you can then be softer and more supportive around their growth. You can start being compassionate towards your fellow human. Truth be told, when you really recognize that we are all (including you) doing our best, you begin to let that part of you that has been under the microscope and judged for not knowing what it cannot, relax. When you relax you are open, when you are open you can receive information that could lead you to doing better.
Take the pressure off, see what happens when you start being nice, when you begin to see people as where they are supposed to be instead of wishing them to be where you want them to be. This is their best, right at this moment… be open, if you want to, to them being different in the next moment. Change is inevitable, growth is mandatory, your best is always better at some point.
xo
a
