TOWARDS BETTER LIVING

By Naturinda Henry, 2024

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This reflection generally tries to suggest to me the different ways how one can overcome life’s emotional disturbances that are mostly faced in our everyday life. It also puts forward ways of how I can improve my style of living and become a better person.

There is a lot of suffering in our world of today that is as a result of people being hungry for things that are more beautiful and valuable. We all strive to reach at things that are too great and extra ordinary and there is also hunger for love, kindness, justice that make people experience suffering in the world. 

It seems to me that it is through these struggles and sufferings that we develop some problems; mental, physical, social and spiritual. As a result, we end up being depressed or bored and we can easily show the clear symptoms of losing interest and pleasure, irritation, loss of concentration, changes in sleeping habits, body pains, feeling of tiredness, feeling of worthlessness, feeling of guilt, feeling of hopelessness and to make matters worse, one can even develop ideas of suicide and of negative ways of looking at life through one’s actions, thoughts, and feelings.

Therefore, this invites me to look into my life inwardly and try to establish best ways possible of improving my living. I can do this through my family, culture, education, religion, faith and language. Through these, I can grow inwards by getting into contact with myself. Thus, I should also look at my foundation where my life is built. 

For example, I should consider my characters, my qualities of head and heart, my external appearance, my strength, my sense of dignity, my personal endowments and through these I grow upwards and improve my being through self-acceptance.

In addition, I should also consider my good deeds, my acts of kindness, my social relationships, my services, my sense of community, my reaching out to others and my human solidarity. 

This can help me to remain connected to my inner self and the world around me. It can also help me to grow outwards and live a meaningful life. Since life is a continuous growth, I have to go deeper and deeper into the roots of my life and my understanding of humanity and God so that I keep on growing.

Therefore, to better my living, I need from time to time to revisit my historical sequence of events such as childhood, adolescence and youth. I also need to put into consideration some aspects like social life, family life, religious life, prayer life, moral life, emotional life, spiritual life, physical life and recreational life and without forgetting the inner dialogues going on interiorly between opposing parts of my life. This may help me to know my joys and sorrows, my satisfactions and frustrations.

In conclusion, I should always try to become conscious of my inner feelings, urges and motivations and my self-image. I should acknowledge that my life is a mixture of strength and weaknesses, of beauty and ugliness, a compound of angels and beasts. But the good thing in all is that God loves me the way I am and I should also love myself the way I am. 

Therefore, with all my possibilities for growth, fulfillment, truth, goodness and beauty, God tells me to take a step and see the fruits and thus I have to watch my steps sprouting and growing as I try to realize what I am supposed to become in the eyes of God.