Do the Best You Can

Be honest with yourself... Are you holding a grudge against someone? Do you frequently find yourself judging someone’s action because they made choices differently than yours? This isn’t necessarily a conversation about shame, blame or judgment. This is a conversation about understanding.  

You see, each of us is here on this earth to learn through our experiences. It's “Earth School” if you will. The difference between Earth School and Grade School is that we all start our learning experiences at different stages. One person may have learned how to hold their ground early in life, someone else may not learn how until their 60s. Some people don’t experience loss until their twenties, others know its bitter taste much younger. Some people are born into a home full of love, where they learn how to love and show compassion for others, others have to teach themselves how to love and show compassion. We are all in a different place in our journey. Working through a different grade, a different lesson, maybe even a different subject.  

If you have a child in kindergarten and a child in 8th grade, you wouldn’t expect your kindergartener to do your 8th grader's geometry homework right? No, probably not. You’d expect your kindergartener to be just learning shapes, addition, and subtraction but they're not ready for right angles and diameters. And you don’t fault them for that. You expect only their best and at that moment their best is counting on their fingers to find the answer to the question 5+2.  

We, as humans, can only do our best for what we know in every situation. Sometimes the best way you know how to love is in an unhealthy fashion. Sometimes the best way you know to handle conflict is with loud voices. Sometimes the best way you know to handle fear is to run from it. All of those things are okay. That is all a part of the journey. Learning as you go. Becoming a better version of yourself along the way and in the meantime, doing the best you can with what you know how to do.  

Just like you praise your kindergartener for writing his name, even though his “s” is backward. Just like you forgive your new driver when they pull in too far to the garage. Just like you pat the back of the kid who didn’t score one point in their first game. Just like you smile at the teenage couple fumbling over one another on their first date. Just like you ignore the rude comments from that one aunt at Thanksgiving dinner. You know, that each of these people is in a specific place in their life and for now, they are behaving in a way that matches that.  

So today, allow people to be exactly where they are at. Allow them to embody that stage without judgment, because they are doing the best they can, with what they know. Then guide them to be better. Show them how to grow, how to work on themselves, and how to become their Purest Self.  

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." Maya Angelou 

Love and light always