5.40 Re-introducing 77%

Dad Update

I just flew to NYC and back. Best case scenario is weeks of a slow, difficult recovery. Please keep my dad (Donald) in your thoughts and prayers.

77% for us! …and for them!

The last Monday of each month for the past howsoever long you have subscribed to this newsletter, you have gotten an e-mail from Religion-Outside-The-Box imploring you to remember 77% is passing.

Taking some time off from doing is foundational spiritual-religious advice. Being kind and compassionate to you, not expecting 100% of yourself, is spiritual-religious advice I constantly need to be reminded of because it just doesn’t come naturally. (I suspect you might suffer from the same problem of constantly pushing yourself harder – to improve, to strive to do more.)

One of the main points of the 40/52 weeks a year schedule as been to remind both you and me that 77% is good enough.

While you might not be an expert in doing it, I’m certain you understand the idea of not holding yourself to the ideal of being perfect. Perhaps you even practice 77% living 77% of the time.

But, now, I want to flip this idea a bit on its head.

• What if we didn’t hold others to the standard of perfection?
• What if we allowed others with whom we interact to be wrong, faulty, or irritable 23% of the time?
• What if we approached people as though it isn’t their job to be perfect either?

I both like and hate this idea.

I hate it because it means that I will have to relinquish some of my judgment. But, I also love it because I know that compassion is the right path. As Plato said, be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. So, cut them some slack.

What if the world only will meet your expectations 77% of the time? (That’s still pretty good, no?) Moreover, if you are accustomed to expecting it to do so 100% of the time, chances are, you’ll find things go a lot easier when you lower your expectations….

Spiritual-religious advice: Only expect 77% of others, too.