I’m of the opinion that when we are ready to learn some lessons, things come our way to affirm this learning. As the saying goes, ‘When the student is ready, the Master appears.’ This year, as I’ve shared, is my year of Metta. A year in which I will focus on myself – a year of deeper self-acceptance and focused self-care. And to reaffirm my decision, the publishers of Love For Imperfect Things reached out to me, asking me to review this lovely book.
Love For Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection
Book Description
No one is perfect, but that shouldn’t hold us back from love-for the world, for one another, or even for ourselves. In this beautifully illustrated guide, Buddhist teacher Haemin Sunim (whose name means “spontaneous wisdom”) draws on examples from his own life and on his years of helping others to introduce us to the art of self-care. When we treat ourselves with compassion, empathy, and forgiveness, we learn to treat others the same way, allowing us to connect with people on a deeper level, bounce back from failure, deal with feeling hurt or depressed, listen more attentively, express ourselves more clearly, and have the courage to pursue what really makes us happy so we can feel complete in ourselves. With more than thirty-five full-color illustrations, Love for Imperfect Things will appeal to both your eyes and your heart, offering you comfort, encouragement, and wisdom so that you can learn to love yourself, your life, and everyone in it.

The Author
Haemin Sunim is one of the most influential Zen Buddhist teachers and writers in the world. Born in South Korea and educated at Berkeley, Harvard and Princeton, he received formal monastic training in Korea and taught Buddhism at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. He has more than a million followers on Twitter and Facebook and lives in Seoul when not traveling to share his teachings. In Korea, The Things You Can See sold more than three million copies and spent 41 weeks at Number One. Love For Imperfect Things was Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller.
My review: 4.5/ 5
Even though I’ve made decisions to be nice to myself, it’s often easy to get caught up in guilt and berate myself for not completing things I’ve planned or not sticking to an agenda. I often catch myself putting myself down or taking myself to task!
True freedom is being without anxiety about imperfection.
— Sixth- century Zen master Sengchan
The struggle to be perfect causes anxiety. Something that we can do without because no one is perfect!
Another area I struggle with is wanting to constantly do things for others and putting myself last. Somewhere deep within I don’t think I’m worthy of my own care. This gentle reminder in the book made so much sense to me.
When you care for yourself first, the world begins to find you worthy of care.
Haemin Sunim
This beautifully illustrated book (I only have an ebook, but would love to get my hands on a hard copy) is full of insight and advice that we already know, but struggle to incorporate into our lives. In his gentle and meandering style, with short anecdotes, some personal, and verses, Sunim reminds us of what’s important in life.

Living in a world where social media brings us ‘perfect’ images of ‘perfect lifestyles’, it’s often hard not to compare ourselves with others. The author reminds us that perfection exists only in our imagination. While we can try to be good at things, and have good life, it’s important to make peace with who we are and not keep striving to change things all the time. To make peace with what is, is truly the secret to happiness.
Love for Imperfect Things is the kind of book you want to read slowly and keep coming back to for more insights.

I received finished copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This sounds like a good book, Corinne! Thank you for sharing about it.
Holly Jahangiri recently posted..Red Paint
This sounds like a lovely book aimed at many of us Corinne. I love this statement ‘To make peace with what is, is truly the secret to happiness.’ Thanks for the suggestion. Visiting from #mlstl
Hi Corinne – this sounds like a book that a lot of Midlifers would benefit from. Thanks for sharing it, but could you also keep in mind that MLSTL is focused on lifestyle type posts and we’re steering away from reviews etc. I’d love you to share something a little more lifestyle related next time. (Hope that’s okay with you xx)
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM
Leanne, oops, sorry, I didn’t realize will do that. I did have a post in mind, but didn’t get it out in time. Won’t happen again.

Corinne Rodrigues recently posted..Drink More Water
I too do the Compare & Despair looking at others social media highlights, am not very nice to myself when I fail to live up to perceived expectations, and tend to accommodate for others desires versus doing what I want. All three habits I’m working on changing. Not that I’m trying to be perfect in any of that – the old habits or the new!
I think the most important lesson we can learn, Corinne is to realise we are not perfect but to accept our imperfections and try to change what we can. Once we accept ourselves ‘warts and all’ we can begin to find peace. Thanks for sharing at #MLSTL and have a lovely week. x
Sounds like a book I need to read. I am slowly learning to accept myself and not expect perfection .
Hi Corinne, Nice to meet you. I also appreciate the concepts of self-acceptance and self-care. The lessons of Perfection and Imperfection continue to appear for me. I am always the student here. This looks like a beautiful book sharing many gems with beautiful images. Thank you for sharing the review. #MLSTL. Erica
This looks like a very relevant book Corinne, social media is so focused on perfect I think people get caught up in it. Definitely a book I would look for, lovely images too. #MLSTL

(I’ve shared on my twitter)
Lorraine recently posted..Create a Vision Board
This sounds like a wonderful book with an important message to everyone. We are all so busy chasing perfection, that we sometimes we forget that it is okay to not be perfect in everything that we do. The illustration looks interesting too.
It is a great book, Reema. Do read it if you get the chance.