Here in southeast Queensland spring is around the corner – not that we really get a spring as such. While we don’t have frosts so don’t get the blossoms and the bulb flowers that herald the coming of spring elsewhere, I can feel it in the warmth of the days and there’s a smell in the air that says spring. The bees are buzzing around the flowering herbs, my winter crop of tomatoes is having a growth spurt, and, judging from the dust bunnies in every corner, the dog very badly needs a clip.

Knowing I have a very short window of opportunity to rid my garden of weeds and mulch it before the heat of summer begins I spent last weekend in the garden doing just that, standing back to look at my freshly weeded, freshly pruned, freshly tamed garden beds. Even as I gave myself a pat on the back for a job done well my husband reminded me that the weeds would probably be back next week. Such perfection is elusive – and fleeting – but all the more sweet because of that.

It’s at Virgo season that my thoughts turn to the earth and the garden, they also turn to my diet and exercise regimes, and they turn to the things I need to do around the house, and the order I need to reclaim after a winter of neglect.

I write lists of things I need to do, to fix, to replace, to clean, to declutter, to throw away. I set myself targets I know I can’t reach and then I beat myself up for not reaching them. I find fault where logically I know a situation is as good as it can be, and I project those faults on to others who don’t deserve that.

Even though I know it’s fruitless, I look for perfection in myself and get bogged down in the “if onlys”:

• If only I kept to a clean eating plan
• If only I achieved my word count target
• If only I marketed more and put myself out there
• If only I didn’t have that glass of wine last night (okay, those glasses of wine…)
• If only I was better, thinner, kinder, fitter …

Virgo’s talent lies in its ability to tweak, to organise, to analyse, it’s shadow lies in analysis paralysis at one extreme and a soul-destroying search for perfection at the other. And before you throw things at me, all signs have their light and their shadow, with most of us falling somewhere along the spectrum.

The thing is, wherever Virgo is in your chart, it’s that part of life where you might be struggling a tad with Virgo concepts right now – it’s also that part of life we’re your hard on yourself, where you seek perfection, and where you also might need a little fine-tuning of your habits.

The challenge is to look at what can be made better without aiming for perfection, while simultaneously recognising the texture and interest the bits that aren’t quite right provide. Sure, fix what’s broken, clean what’s dirty, tweak a habit here or there, but don’t go for the impossible – perfection. After all, it’s the broken bits that make us human and, I like to think, loveable just as we are.

It’s like the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where imperfections and breakages are made beautiful with gold. When a piece of china is broken, it’s repaired with gold lacquer. Rather than being hidden, the broken pieces are highlighted, cherished even. It’s a reminder of the frailty of the human condition as well as a lesson to stay optimistic when things fall apart and to celebrate the flaws and missteps of life. It’s about seeing beauty in the incomplete and value in simplicity. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

How very Virgo.