Perfect. What a deliciously alluring, seductive, tempting word. Purrfect. A word that Eartha Kitt owned and would growl out on demand of which I've had the personal privilege of hearing. In most cases, perfect, is hard to achieve, almost impossible. We can only strive to be perfect, always falling short for most, and for the rare few, just out of grasp. But is it really something to aim for? And for which part of your life do you pour all your energies in to perhaps reach perfection? Wealth, health, relationships? Something's got to give, right? Well, this house is certainly not perfect. Except for this ceiling. There is nothing more perfect than this ceiling. Ok, I may be exaggerating...the house location is perfect and the view! Lord have mercy, the view is beyond perfection! But I had no control over that. My father did, and he chose perfectly.
Every piece of the coffered ceiling was cut and placed by hand, no prefab mouldings here. A true coffered ceiling of this calibre adds the best of architectural details and elevates the worth of the house. There can be no flaws in its geometry and I threatened Boufeas (my mihanikos) that if there was it would be horribly obvious and would have to be taken down at his expense. He was leery at first because he said that this was a Greek house not an English house and we don't install these types of ceilings. Having taken him again outside of his comfort zone and having to admit that he never erected one, he cleverly discovered that our foreman, Dimitri, was quite the expert on coffered ceilings. Perfect.
I always admired the look of a coffered ceiling and how it truly does finish a room and make it grand. The house's main floor high ceilings presented me with a rare opportunity to indulge and completely surrender to this fantasy. It was a true labour of love, as most all good things worth fighting for are, and in this rare instance resulted in pure magic! It was worth the wait and the cost. It is by far, the best feature of this house. When I finally saw it this summer, it took my breathe away. Success!And isn't it funny that when you want something real bad, you start seeing it everywhere! Like a new car that you're thinking about purchasing and you see it at every turn. As many times as I've visited the Acropolis, it wasn't until this last visit that rocked my world. As I looked skyward up the long length of the doric columns, I was delighted to only discover, you guessed it, coffered ceilings! They were suddenly everywhere! Up high running across the top of Parthenon and various other temples on the grounds, and pieces of it, down low on the ground, on its sides. Despite dissenting voices, I couldn't help but grin and giggle as I stood there and relished that my house indeed was as Greek as it was going to get. Heh, Heh...perfect.
Am I a bit of a perfectionist? Perhaps. And as a culture, we tend to reward perfectionists for setting high standards and trying to meet them which is addictive. And while I said that the ceiling is perfect, I also admitted that the house is not. Success in some areas and failure in others. Perfection may always equal success, but will success bring you perfection? Arianna Huffington was in Toronto recently launching her new concept called, the Third Metric, at a fundraiser for Women's Brain Health Initiative. And while I do admire her willingness and ability to reinvent herself, something that I always strive for, I find this concept of taking success to another new level, a little abstract and pedantic. Nevertheless, something she said resonated with me. That "failure is not the opposite of success."
I immediately thought of my hot yoga/fitness practice. While its great for slowing down my monkey mind and building physical strength (success), I am otherwise absolutely horrible at it (failure). Try as I might, I will likely never be able to do the scale pose asana, the peacock asana, the standing splits or any kind of splits! But I have learned to at least make an authentic attempt and reflect inward. Trust that wherever you are in your pose, that is exactly where you need to be. Imagine that in your minds eye that you are performing the pose/asana perfectly.
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius
and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
Marilyn Monroe
I am learning that perfection doesn't have to be something that everyone sees, but rather a feeling a connection, to something or someone. And that we treat it as a rare gift, because it sustains us and feeds into other parts of our lives. It makes us feel more normal, more creative, more inspired and more strong. Trying to live an authentic life is way more difficult than yoga asanas and building houses, but I am learning to try and be successful in smaller portions and aspects of life. I am learning not to fear failure because its not the opposite of success! It is after all, our imperfections that we relate and bond with one another. It is how we handle our failures and weakness that makes us truly great. I love my Greek house... and all its perfect imperfections.
