It’s easy to go through the motions and act on autopilot for a good majority of our lives. This can be a dangerous way to live, because you’re never really examining your surroundings or how you feel about certain situations, instead, you just accept it in order to make it through another day. This can lead to a slow growth of ennui and general apathy towards things in life that prevents you from questioning what you’d really like to experience in the years making up your life. For all we know, we only get one life, so it’s best to make the most of it. Dependent on your religious beliefs you might think you’ll get another shot, but why wait until then to make the most of your life?
Everyone will have a different ‘win’ as what happiness is can be highly subjective. One person might gain great satisfaction by simply helping out at the local homeless shelter and reading in their spare time, while another person might need to conquer Mount Everest in his shorts in order to feel at peace.
No matter what you’d like to direct your life toward, there are grounded, universal ways to improve your life that will apply to most people.
Treating others with love and respect.
It’s all too easy to forget the significance of people in our lives and end up neglecting them or treating them harshly. Life is difficult enough sometimes, so sometimes we snap where we didn’t plan to, or can be passive aggressive in a way that hurts a friend or significant other.
It’s not hard to fall into that trap. Simply sitting down for an hour in a quiet place to remind yourself of the positive people in your life and what they mean to you can yield amazing results in how you focus on your day to day interactions. For problems that run deeper, finding a way to explore a new situation with the person involved or attending relationship counselling can be a healthy exercise.
A good book, especially a biography of someone who lived through a difficult time, can help us re-assess the good to be found in our lives. For example, a book by Dr Viktor E. Frankl “Man's Search For Meaning,” details the daily struggle for survival in Auschwitz for its Jewish prisoners.
Reading historical accounts such as this, where someone has been through a horrifying ordeal and come through with a life-affirming philosophy can help you understand the correct placement for the problems in your life. Our minds are trouble-shooters, and so it’s easy for us to exaggerate a problem that really just needs a simple fix to sort out.
Exercising.
This both addresses your mental body image and energy levels throughout the day, giving you more of a grounding to attack the issues that have clouded your life with a sense of integrity and valor. In order to become a better person, you should do difficult things. Exercise is a perfect way to do this. This, in turn, will increase your self-confidence and respect which is a great place to start when making drastic life changes, such as a new career or relationship.
Managing your energy, priorities and time is not an easy task. Be sure to place your best foot forward in order to break through that shell, and you’ll realise how easy it is to get yourself out of a rut.
No comments:
Post a Comment