What are you working on today to be a better you tomorrow?

sampa

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What kinds of hobbies or things for your health or skills are you working on now to be better at in the future?

For example, 12 or so years ago I started playing around with putting seeds in the ground and hoping things would work out with minimal effort. As you can guess there was many failures but each year I tried something a little bit different.

Cooking is another example, I wanted minimal effort but learned differently as my health took a plunge. This year to keep me accountable, I have committed to making different healthy things for my coworkers once a month all the way till December. I've also committed things on my calendar working with a health coach on sports nutrition, for myself and I tell another person at work to keep me accountable. It helps her also with accountability and she sends me photos.

There's quite a few other things I'm working on, and there's goals I set more than 10 years ago but still have not happened, but that's okay.. everything in its time. How about you?
 

MehGuy

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I just try to get a better and better understanding of human psychology. When I lost my Christian faith, I become very introspective, and I think that experience will be with me even if somewhat waning for the rest of my life.

Still not sure how much good it really does for me, but I'm still alive.
 
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public hermit

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I do three things every day that I think will make me a better me lol.

I stretch and workout every morning. I can't commend stretching enough. It has made a significant difference at my age. My workout is not a lot, but it keeps me toned and I feel good.

My major in school was philosophy. I read a lot anyway, but every morning I read at least one entry from The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. I review the one from the day before. And if the day's entry sparks my interest, I do further research later that day.

I know two languages. So, each day I spend a few minutes studying one of them. I alternate between them, doing one this day and the other the next.

It doesn't take long for me to do those three habits, but it keeps those skills sharp. And no matter what happens, I feel like I accomplished something each day. My future goals are to try to do well at what I can do so those habits are aimed at that, specifically.
 
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sampa

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just try to get a better and better understanding of human psychology.
I'm glad you still hang out with us here, even though you have lost your faith.

I am working on getting better at learning human behaviour
That's great! The better you understand human behavior, the more treats you might gain;)

I do three things every day that I think will make me a better me lol.
That's great that you try to do three things everyday. It's quite a bit but I wonder if it helps you to be thankful and purposeful. By the way I read somewhere about your father's passing, I'm so sorry for the loss.
 
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dzheremi

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This morning I helped a friend of mine find a Ukrainian translator for two Ukrainian refugee children who recently enrolled in her daughter's elementary school. I don't think that made me a better person, but I hope it makes the refugee children's lives a little easier. Then I showered my cat with a bunch of affection she doesn't want, just like every other day. :D Again, I don't think this makes me a better person, but I can't see how it makes me any worse, at least (the cat probably can, though). And I just finished my every-other-day exercise bike ride of five miles. It used to be every day for an hour or as close as I could get to it, but I managed to really mess up my big toe on Wednesday, and the nurse practitioner I saw the next day told me to chill out on exercise until after I come back for a follow-up next week, at which point she can reassess it to make sure it's getting better instead of worse. (It didn't rip out the nail or anything, but it did crack it, so it could be a few more weeks before I'm back up to my pre being-a-clumsy-oaf schedule of activities.)
 
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sampa

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This morning I helped a friend of mine find a Ukrainian translator for two Ukrainian refugee children who recently enrolled in her daughter's elementary school. I don't think that
That's amazing! So glad that you were able to help out. No matter what it's a step in the right direction :)Thanks for sharing.
 
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public hermit

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It's quite a bit but I wonder if it helps you to be thankful and purposeful

It's not that much but it does help me feel purposeful. I'm generally a thankful person. I was such a handful and wild growing up that it is easy to be grateful today since things could have turned out radically different for me. I have not forgotten God's goodness to me.

By the way I read somewhere about your father's passing, I'm so sorry for the loss

Thank you.
 
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ReesePiece23

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There's quite a few other things I'm working on, and there's goals I set more than 10 years ago but still have not happened

I hear that.

The important thing though is that I'm just as determined today as I was back then AND I'm still moving forwards. One just underestimates how much groundwork and interpersonal growth needs to happen in order for it to all come off.

If life has taught me anything, it's that everything ALWAYS comes together in the end, so long as your heart is in the right place and that you don't call it "my dream" - goals are reality based, you need to be awake in order for you to meet them. (Plus, when dreams are forced to become reality the polish gets scuffed up by this thing called life.)

On the other hand, some life goals are ticked off so fast that I don't even remember working towards them. I've been able to turn my life around in a matter of a few weeks, if not days before. The short goals were NOT any less important, because they're all leading to something - and without that patchwork of small goals, the big ones mean nothing.
 
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sampa

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The important thing though is that I'm just as determined today as I was back then AND I'm still moving forwards
Always a good thing! Keep moving.

Plus, when dreams are forced to become reality the polish gets scuffed up by this thing called life.)
I can agree.

On the other hand, some life goals are ticked off so fast that I don't even remember working towards them. I'v
Yes very true! That's one of the reasons I probably don't use the word bucket list. When that term became popular, I refrained from using it. I've always felt like it's an awkward phrase to talk about all the things you want to do before you die. If there's one thing I've learned, the plans that the Lord has for me are greater than my own. There's things that I planned a long time ago and they fell through, but they came around it later years totally refashioned in a much better way that I could ever have expected.

not forgotten God's goodness to me
God is good all the time!
 
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bèlla

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You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

In 2020 I developed an ethos that articulated my wants, dreams, desires and purpose in one simple word. It wasn’t enough to be good, adept or intentional. I wanted my efforts to emit an odor whose essence impacted everything. All that I did, said and touched embodied the principle.

I gave myself permission to go beyond the norm, comfort zones, and the way its always been to operate in the fullness of my anointing. I took the limits off my mind and confronted the hindrances that prevented me being everything He fashioned me to become.

I began to live those words and dismantled a lot. It no longer reflected who I am, what I want and where I’m going. I bid adieu with no regrets and emptied my space as well.

God said, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Oftentimes we can’t experience the totality of His intentions because the old envelopes us. We can’t step into the better thing, new experience or blessing because we’re too afraid or too comfortable. But release brings freedom.

I pen these words in an environment I didn’t imagine in the past. But it fits me like a glove. As I gaze at the shelves and order I hear Solomon saying, “there is a season for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven” and I know he’s right.

I look around and I’m surrounded by the word. For whatever we do, we work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. And the ant’s been busy. I see her labor and I’m not overcome by lack because I trust Him.

There’s nothing I can’t do. He’s given me the knowledge and tools to accomplish it. It’s my responsibility to unlock them through the word and Spirit’s guidance. To step out in faith and run the race set before me.

Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Faith without works is dead. Desire without trust is meaningless. Life without purpose is confusion and a dead end.

~bella
 
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ReesePiece23

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Yes very true! That's one of the reasons I probably don't use the word bucket list. When that term became popular, I refrained from using it. I've always felt like it's an awkward phrase to talk about all the things you want to do before you die. If there's one thing I've learned, the plans that the Lord has for me are greater than my own. There's things that I planned a long time ago and they fell through, but they came around it later years totally refashioned in a much better way that I could ever have expected.

It is a bit of a daft term when you think about it. And it's funny you mention refashioned plans, because I say - almost without exception, that when they eventually DO come to fruition in their remodelled form: "I'm glad it happened NOW and not then. My original vision sucked."

I've done the bucket-list way of thinking, and have lived for the adrenaline rush. And I can say with absolute certainty that the high is not worth the hideous comedown you'll experience when you're back down again, in the land of reality.

Remember, what goes up MUST come down, IF a solid foundation is absent. That's why drugs are bad, because they're just too good for most people. When your brain experiences a sudden leap of excitement and wonder, it's all it wants from that point on. It's the same with this too.

Methodical builds, consistency, small daily wins, a winning routine and above all, good food. That's what'll do it for you.
 
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linux.poet

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My inbox :p . I need to stop being such an email historian.

Also my financial accounts and my daily routine, as well. I agree that incremental success is important to serious endeavors, and so I'm working on deciding what are serious endeavors that need said plan of incremental greatness. Ah, the lovely journeys of introspective self-discovery, placing all of the things in their place where they belong.
 
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Some things I'm trying to do to become a better person are:

-Keep working on my hobbies and learn how to get better at them
-Take care of my health the best I can by eating right and exercising daily when possible
-Avoid things that are bad for my mental health. I want to improve my mental health, but it's been difficult.
-Try to learn from my many past mistakes. I feel so bad about a lot of things I said and did in the past and I don't want to repeat them again. Too many times I've been too negative, selfish, immature, judgemental, and snapped at other people because I was feeling upset (sometimes without even realizing it), and I probably lost a lot of friendships because of that. I'm trying to improve my character, especially online.
 
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linux.poet

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As mentioned above, even for self introspection I have folders that I keep different notes or notebooks. Piles that I continuously move from room to room whenever I have time to look into it.
Same. You should see the notebooks, journals, notepad documents, notecards, and piles of loose-leaf paper, not to mention other files, that I have used to meticulously document every inch of my internal space.

But now that I have emerged from the introspective waters, I have a real list: biblical languages, languages in general, biblical memorization and study, sewing, chess, physical training, investing and personal finance, marketing, and programming.

And yes, I do need to learn more recipes, but I have concluded the matters above are more important. :p The soufflé will come, but first, money.
 
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sampa

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You should see the notebooks, journals, notepad documents, notecards, and piles of loose-leaf paper, not to mention other files, that I have used to meticulously document every inch of my internal space.
Same here! I spent most of my 30s with all kinds of delving into those kinds of things and all kinds of paperwork. Little by little I'm trying to downsize and hopefully someday I will be able to get back to some of that. For scrapbooking type of reasons.

My mom told me that when it comes to stuff, a lot of people accumulate a lot of stuff, but myself I accumulate a lot of papers. I have totes and toads of them. Not just introspective but records from the military, work, japan, medical...

biblical languages, languages in general, biblical memorization and study, sewing, chess, physical training, investing and personal finance, marketing, and programming.
those are some good goals. I bought a Hebrew Torah parallel Bible, sewing is something I need to pick up since I gave everything to my mom.. physical training takes quite a bit of dedication, and investing and personal finance also is something that could take a decade... Those are some ambitious goals. But if you take it in small chunks I'm sure that you can accomplish it.

do need to learn more recipes, but I have concluded the matters above are more important. :p Th
I totally get it with the recipes. This is the first year that I've really been working at it. Outside of Christmas baking and when I do the Daniel fast.
 
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