I believe in clean enough. I am okay with less than 100% correct. I am obviously comfortable with blogging less than daily. Thus, I am not a perfectionist.
But I do have a problem when it comes to some activities or life changes; I am a Gestaltist. A gestalt is a whole. God designed us to see a circle in the picture above, even though part of it is missing. Not only do we see the whole, but we desire the whole. You might argue that desiring the gestalt is perfectionism, but I beg to differ. Perfectionism is a standard set so high that it can and often does interfere with daily functioning. Gestaltism is, in many respects, the opposite. The desire for completion is what spurs us on when the workout is almost over or the dishwasher is almost unloaded. This is a functional desire.
However, like perfectionism, Gestaltism can present difficulties, too. This morning I was contemplating journaling in my junk journal (I would like to blog about this later!) and didn’t want to. When I asked myself why, I realized that I was reluctant to write this month because I didn’t write anything last month. I felt that my journal was going to be incomplete, and thus less desirable, even if I continued to write in it for the rest of the year.
How can we get past the dysfunctional aspects of Gestaltism, so I can do things like write in my junk journal and you can do things like lose weight?
– Create a new whole to complete. Rather than concern myself with the journal as a whole, I can think about finishing the month of May. If you blew your diet for lunch, make dinner your new complete.
– Redefine complete. To get myself writing, I can call a few retrospective entries in the calendar for the last two months complete. If you overate for lunch, but made sure you were really hungry before you started, the latter can be your completion.
– Trust God to complete what you have started. Many Scriptures speak of God finishing what we start. Whether I finish my journal or not, I can focus on what a complete joy this journal will be one day to me, my children, and grandchildren. If you messed up your eating at lunch, trust that God will enable you to use what you learned to complete your weight loss goal.
In order to complete this post, I need to give photo credit. Have a completely wonderful day in the Lord!
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
