Making Yourself

I've been thinking a lot about one of my favourite quotes recently.

Before I tell you what it is, let me tell you about something that I observed in our son.

It's something I've observed too often in myself.

***

It was his birthday recently and like many kids his age, he loves Lego.

One of the sets he got contained many teeny tiny pieces.

It's been years since he has asked us for help building a Lego set. This particular one was no different.

A little while into building it though, he got quite frustrated.

He couldn't find a piece that he needed.

We've been here before.

Many times I have genuinely believed that the good folks at Lego forgot to include a piece.

I have been wrong every single time.

Eventually his frustration bubbled over and he sort of gave up hope.

"I can never build this thing now. This thing is stupid." — the usual banter that one turns to in a moment of hopelessness.

***

When I was watching him in that moment of frustration, my favourite quote slapped me in the face.

It comes from a novel that I love, which I only partially understand.

You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect then just paint naturally.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

There's so much I love about this quote.

Firstly, it's impossible.

We are not and can never be, perfect.

But that's not the point of the quote to me.

If your painting isn't feeling quite right, it might be easy to blame the light, the canvas, the brush, the paint, the angle of the easel, or the rotation of the earth.

But what the quote does for me, is ask the fundamental question.

Are you right? If not, you have no hope with this painting.

How do we know when we're right?

It's probably easier to know when we're not.

So whenever that feeling isn't present, then we're probably as close to right as we're going to get in that moment.

***

When our son misplaced his teeny tiny pieces, the frustration that took over him essentially made it impossible for him to find them.

He was no longer right. How on earth could he expect to finish his painting (Lego) this way?

His frustration eventually passed.

He found the teeny tiny pieces.

They were in the garbage.

He had put them there by mistake because he was overly excited and rushing to get started.

Rarely is rushing ever right.

***

We're painting all the time.

We don't need to paint perfect paintings every time.

But when it counts, it's important to ask the fundamental question first.