Better is better than best ~ Art of Realignment

“Just do your best! All the best!”

Well, best seems great but what is best, anyway? Who defines it?

I feel that the idea of best snatches our ability to immerse, surrender at the moment, and create something relevant.

I experimented with this thought. I used to tell myself, “I will do my best and what I can.” It did help me to stay focus and just put in everything that I have at that moment but I always had this notion of ‘No, it is not just best’ then I strived more.

However, I realized that best is best at that moment only. But life is alive, not constant; keeps changing. If I get stuck with best and feel proud at that moment, smug maybe and feel joyful. But, like every moment is temporary. It is too. So, what can I do? What do I tell myself differently that doesn’t make me cling to shades of arrogance, disappointment, and restlessness?

How about doing, knowing, and being better? How about becoming a better human being and a professional every moment of the day and repeat? Yes, I know, we all have heard about ‘Just be the best version of yourself’. How about being a better version of yourself each and every moment? Because if we don’t then our mind would overpower us and would not want to change by being content and complacent as it perceives ‘best’ as a destination.

On the flip side, when you fall, you feel stuck. It feels like ‘What and how I thought would be’ is not ‘What and how I am at that moment’ because of some struggle and suffering that griped and challenged you, which, by the way, is the key to true happiness and peace. Anyway, fear creeps in and you can’t move as your mind races with the thoughts screaming ‘Time is running. There is nothing you can do now! What’s the point. Stop trying. It's too late. Let’s do it tomorrow but then tomorrow brings another challenge and everything just piles up, leaving you to feel overwhelmed and static.’

Why does that happen? Maybe because our mind feels happy, content, and at peace with its ‘own’ reality as it compares the progress with ‘others’ and disregards the possibility that each individual has its own journey of struggles and suffering. Moreover, life is designed to make us feel vulnerable by showing things unexpectedly, answers unknown, and all the mysteries, confusion, dissonance, and chaos with it, leaving us to discover ourselves only if we are conscious of it. How about embracing this and acknowledging this realm of nature?

Anyway, as they say, ‘Change is the only constant’. So, what can we do? What can we shift?

How about telling ourselves that each moment is an opportunity for me to become better than I was. How do I do it?

I ask myself these questions to pick myself up after falling or surging -

1) Okay! So, some unexpected things happen. All is not lost. What can I do NOW that makes me reach closer to what I intend to do? One step at a time. One day at a time. (don’t do everything at once, take one step, and slowly get into the motion and flow. Give yourself time to pace up)

2) Am I standing in my values while doing it? Am I being compassionate, courageous, and manifesting wisdom through channel my life flow by embracing presence?

3) I don’t need to compare myself with anyone. I need to do it for myself because as I grow and progress, my actions manifest and impact others. I can pick up where I left off, maybe now I can see and sense things with a different perspective.

In essence, each moment is a gift of realignment. Realigning to our intention, values, and qualities.

It's a painful process initially because our ‘planned reality’ in our mind might not align with ‘present reality’ as we live in a deeply interconnected universe with a varied frequency of vibration emanating energy, changing in its own motion. However, reflecting or absorbing energy is temporary as transforming is the way forward. For instance, I planned to write something and I had jotted my ideas, planned the process, and how it could turn out by doing my best. Suddenly, I was partnered to do it with someone. A feeling of disappointment, not being good enough, or envy creeps in as my mind says,” I don’t want to share my ideas with anyone. I will do it my way.” As a result, you get enraged and talk rudely to the partner, emanating the energy of arrogance and the partner reflects it being frustrated and upset.

What could I have done differently? Can I transform the feeling of arrogance? Can I accept the ‘present reality’ and make adjustments to my ‘planned reality’ by being in the moment?

Maybe I could open my mind and heart to also let the partner present their ideas. Why should I do it? Because the purpose is to ensure that a particular piece of work gets completed by adding value.

Here, what if I shift my thinking from ‘who is right’ to ‘what is right’ by presenting my ideas and the reasons, assumptions, and intention behind ‘my’ ideas and listen to the partner’s idea as ‘his/her’ ideas might just enrich and build on ‘my’ ideas and become ‘our’ ideas to fulfill our ‘shared purpose’.

Maybe by doing this, I learn something new about the work or myself as ‘I’ have my own imagination and so has the‘other’ because ‘we’ both have immense potential within us, waiting to be manifested, together.

So, if we attempt to embrace the present moment as it is without judgment, it can make us realize the true importance of the fragility and uncertainty of life, brings the opportunity to evolve ourselves, and do things that really matter together, and even better by realigning again and again with ourselves.

Now, how about becoming better than best?