Happy New Year: You Are Perfect The Way You Are

At one point during his teachings, the Zen master Suzuki Roshi entered a room full of meditation students, sat down before them, and opened with this unforgettable line: “Each of you is perfect the way you are…and you can use a little improvement.”

On New Years Eve, after the ball dropped in Times Square and I kissed my wife, I found myself brushing my teeth and reflecting on that quote.

We are all perfect as we are. Innately good, whole, and complete. Watching my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter has only deepened my belief in this truth of basic goodness. She hasn’t yet been told she’s inadequate or lazy, nor has she learned to doubt herself. She simply toddles through the world, radiating joy and confidence, utterly at ease in her own skin. We were all born like this. But somewhere along the way, we got confused. We forgot our intrinsic worth and started to believe, as Suzuki Roshi noted, that we “could use a little improvement.”

This time of year, people casually ask, “Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?” According to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about half of Americans answer “yes” to that question. Of those, three in ten resolve to exercise more or eat healthier. One-quarter aim to lose weight, while others focus on improving finances or mental health. On the…