Perfectionism

A transcript of Dr. Finlayson-Fife's discussion about the Divine Feminine on the Latter-day Contemplation podcast.

Preston Pugmire: On the podcast today we have Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife. She is a licensed psychotherapist and she specializes in relationship and sexuality counseling. She primarily works with LDS couples. I first came to know about her through listening to her on other podcasts. And actually, me and my wife have bought her courses and love, love, love her work. So, Jennifer, thank you for coming on the podcast today.  Jennifer Finlayson-Fife: Thanks for having me. My pleasure.  Preston Pugmire: So just kind of introduce yourself a little bit, even though I already did. But tell...

Jennifer Finlayson-Fife: I think one thing that’s really helpful is just understanding that this struggle with perfectionism is a very human struggle. It’s not like something’s broken in you. Part of growing into maturity is to have enough compassion for what it means to be human and for yourself in that imperfect process to stop beating yourself up for what we all are, which is flawed and worthy.

I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to “do your best”. The reality is that we are inherently flawed and have a limited understanding of our own and others’ motivations. This impairs our ability to always do what is best or wise. There’s no getting around this. Additionally, we all have a narrative of who we are that makes our choices make sense to us, but that often are destructive to ourselves and/or others. This makes repetition of our limited choices easy, and meaningful development hard. My work is helping people see what they can’t yet see about themselves (and others),...

Dr. Finlayson-Fife speaks about the perils of Perfectionism with Monica Packer of the About Progress Podcast.  You can listen to this podcast episode here, and learn about About Progress Podcast here. Monica:  Many of you will know Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife as “The Mormon Sex Therapist.” Yes, she is indeed an incredible therapist who deals primarily with relational and sexual issues, but as Jennifer says her therapy focuses mostly on just being human and the challenges related to being human.  Turns out one of the largest developmental hurdles her clients often face is perfection...