Our Standards

Do you notice if you self judge or hate yourself when you don't live up to the expectations or standards you have for yourself? Where do these standards come from? They were formed somewhere --- they just didn't pop in your being out of thin air. You have accumulated these standards through your childhood experiences and through what others and society have told you, either directly or implied. What would you be if you dropped these standards that are unique to you alone? Can you even live up to the standards you have for yourself, or is it like a gerbil on an exercise wheel, always spinning but going nowhere? Have you purposefully set your standards so high that you cannot reach them as a way of always failing and then condemning yourself? Our standards, which are just our beliefs, prevent us from knowing the fullness of our being, that we are holy through our Oneness with God.

Lawrence Doochin