The Paralysis of Perfection...

I really want to live a more fulfilling life.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but it’s definitely one of those aspirations that gets bandied around a lot these days. You’ll hear people expressing a desire to be more mindful, more grounded, more in-tune with their inner selves or any one of a dozen other objectives that may well have those who consider themselves to be of a practical disposition snorting in derision.

So, what do you do? Well, I’d say that you decide your own path and we can and should be striving for a life in which we are happy and fulfilled. Already, that desire to live better, more joyful lives is powering a health and wellness industry that’s worth more than four trillion pounds across the world.

People everywhere want to swap anxiety and exhaustion for a calmer and more enjoyable existence, and if you’re one of them, then the route you take is up to you. But there is one principle, one quick nugget of wisdom, the realisation of which has transformed my own relationship with everyday happiness and contentment. And I’d like to tell you about it.

Many of us have convinced ourselves that our sense of personal fulfilment, our joy in life lies somewhere in the future in a location that we need to strive most of our lives to reach. We don’t stop to consider that we might already have arrived. We treat our life experiences as a means to an end, toiling and pushing towards an imagined goal as we wait for everything to work out for the best and in the process, we blight our lives with discontentment and stress.

But the truth is that you can choose to arrive fully right now, you can live a present-centred life while holding your plans and dreams much more lightly. Don’t wait for a ‘future you’ to secure your fulfilment - that might never happen. Instead, just show up today, be present in your life as it happens. See what you have moment to moment, not what you might be able to get or do in some flickering future existence.

Life is a continuous dance to be learned and enjoyed, it’s not a race to the finishing line. And yes, at its heart, this is just another lesson in mindful living, but the simple truth is that this stuff works. If you can free yourself from the paralysis of perfection and be wholly present, right now, in your life today, you’ll find your fulfilment. Despite what others – or your own mind – may tell you, enjoying your life doesn’t require you to fix it first.