(This image is from wikipedia and it's public domain. These are traditional Icelandic turf houses. Read on and you'll see why I could imagine living in one.)I took a test on Psychology Today's website and discovered that according to my answers I'm only 67% perfectionist. I was surprised; I thought I would get closer to 100%. They don't give a lot of analysis of your results unless you pay for it, but it did mention I'd be happier if I overcame this tendency. Duh. There is a lot of information about perfectionism on their website.
On a different website, I read a very interesting article by Peter Bregman. You can read the whole article "How to Escape Perfectionism" HERE. This is the part I liked:
"According to the World Database of Happiness (yes, there is one), Iceland is the happiest place on earth. That's right, Iceland. Yes, I know it's cold and dark six months out of the year there. I'm just giving you the data.
"The secret to their happiness? Eric Weiner, Author of The Geography of Bliss, traveled to Iceland to find out. After interviewing a number of Icelanders, Weiner discovered that their culture doesn't stigmatize failure. Icelanders aren't afraid to fail — or to be imperfect — and so they're more willing to pursue what they enjoy. That's one reason Iceland has more artists per capita than any other nation. 'There's no one on the island telling them they're not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write,' Weiner writes.
"Which makes them incredibly productive. They don't just sit around thinking they'd like to do something. They do it. According to the psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 'It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have.'"
Now I want to move to Iceland and live in a turf house.
On a different website, I read a very interesting article by Peter Bregman. You can read the whole article "How to Escape Perfectionism" HERE. This is the part I liked:
"According to the World Database of Happiness (yes, there is one), Iceland is the happiest place on earth. That's right, Iceland. Yes, I know it's cold and dark six months out of the year there. I'm just giving you the data.
"The secret to their happiness? Eric Weiner, Author of The Geography of Bliss, traveled to Iceland to find out. After interviewing a number of Icelanders, Weiner discovered that their culture doesn't stigmatize failure. Icelanders aren't afraid to fail — or to be imperfect — and so they're more willing to pursue what they enjoy. That's one reason Iceland has more artists per capita than any other nation. 'There's no one on the island telling them they're not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write,' Weiner writes.
"Which makes them incredibly productive. They don't just sit around thinking they'd like to do something. They do it. According to the psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 'It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have.'"
Now I want to move to Iceland and live in a turf house.
1 comment:
I know some people who do that over here, despite the odds. But I sure would like to see those houses in person. How cool. I, on the other hand, do not jump in and do things as much as I could. But I'm making progress.
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