Get Past Perfect and Rise Up Real.

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Did you know that certain Native American artisans weave small, purposeful mistakes into their blankets?

These master craftspeople include intentional slip-ups in their best work. But why?

Because they believe that the “mistake” is the very space that allows Spirit to move in and out of the fabric.

Take a moment and let that sink in. Then ask yourself …

What if the mistakes you wish you hadn’t made could be openings for Spirit in your life?

If that question freaks you out a little, I understand.

I’m Caroline Garnet McGraw, and I’m a recovering perfectionist. (And workaholic and codependent and people-pleaser. You know, just the usual.)

I’ve spent most of my life in abject terror of making mistakes. But in 2011, I started this blog as an account of the journey to get past perfect and rise up real.

A Wish Come Clear is about the lifelong odyssey that we take to come home to ourselves and each other.

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If only you knew (what it’s really like to write)

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Over a dozen of you wrote to me last week to share how much the missive meant to you. Thank you.

As I read message after message, I shook my head and thought, “Wow. If only they knew.”

Then I realized that perhaps it’s right that you DO know.

The morning I wrote that missive, I did not bounce out of bed with a smile.

Like so many other parents in this COVID time, my husband and I have been caring for our baby for 2 months without outside help, while both running our businesses.

We’re thankful to have that option … and also, it has not been easy.

We’ll have more help soon, but the morning I wrote the missive, I felt as though I was running a marathon with no finish line.

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There is a way, and you will find it.

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Have you ever had a strong sense that there was something you were meant to do … but then second-guessed that knowing, because you couldn’t see how it would work?

Ever spent time in silence, getting clear on what you yearn for … and then felt a vicious wave of doubt knock you down?

I get it. I see it in my own life, and in my work with private coaching clients.

Often we pretend that the problem is not knowing what we want … when the truth is that we DO know, we just don’t see a way forward.

So we say, “I just don’t know,” and, “I need to get clarity!” when the true difficulty lies elsewhere.

It’s not that we don’t know.
It’s that we don’t believe it’s possible for us.

But what if we understood that taking action in the direction of our dreams is what allows the way to appear?

Here’s the story of a time when I learned that lesson.

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All the things we need to drop (and one that remains)

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Do you remember the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail, when Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly were both so darn PSYCHED to read their email?

For all their differences, the characters had this in common: They loved logging onto AOL, hearing those dulcet dial-up tones and the voice saying, “You’ve Got Mail!”

And after they deleted the spam, typically they only had ONE real email waiting for them.

I woke up with that image in my mind the other day: An near-empty inbox.

Just one message that really meant something.

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