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What's the most important facet that people should improve?
What's the most important facet that people should improve about themselves??

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What's the most important facet that people should improve?
lokariototal
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Posted 11/07/09 - 03:56 PM:
Subject: What's the most important facet that people should improve?
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#1
People say "life becomes better when you become better." But What facets are the most important? Maybe trying to become a happier person? What do you think?
jsidelko
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Posted 11/07/09 - 04:21 PM:
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Depending upon the greatest need, I would list them in the following order: 1. Ignorance, 2. Physical weakness, 3. Poverty, 4. Social isolation. and 5.Emotional problems.

thanatos
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Posted 11/07/09 - 05:14 PM:
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#3
Depends on what the person seeking change views as the most important.

Knowledge/intelligence/insight/wisdom? - Seek and improve that.
Happiness - Seek and improve that.

Etc.
unenlightened
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Posted 11/07/09 - 08:10 PM:
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Self improvement is like cleaning shuttered windows; you'll get more light by going outside.

...most of our actions are the result of the past, or according to a future ideal. That's not action, that is just conformity. J Krishnamurti

"Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys
Willowz
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Posted 11/07/09 - 10:55 PM:
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How do you understand "going outside"? Might mean a lot...

This song will prepare you for a good smile.
unenlightened
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Posted 11/07/09 - 11:15 PM:
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It's very simple - go outside yourself. The more one focuses on improving the life of everyone, rather than oneself, the less trouble one will have. I assume you can tie your own shoelaces, and find something to eat when you are hungry, etc. After that, thinking all the time about what I want, or want to become, or ought to be, is a recipe for unhappiness and ineffectiveness; forget all that and start acting in the world. smiling face

...most of our actions are the result of the past, or according to a future ideal. That's not action, that is just conformity. J Krishnamurti

"Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys
wuliheron
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Posted 11/08/09 - 03:20 AM:
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I would say acceptance is the single most important thing anyone can improve about themselves.

As children we all learned to play make-believe, but somewhere along the way we began to take our pretense seriously. So much so that we forgot we were pretending in the first place. We became belief creating machines, creating one belief after another the way we eat potato chips. One after another without a second's hesitation.

No doubt our drive to adopt beliefs is as natural a defense as the inclination to eat more than we need, but knowing this does not necessarilly help us to stop. Just as we might drink a diet soda with our potato chips in order to help control our weight, we might also adopt additional beliefs to counter the ones we have. Still, if we could just avoid eating the potato chips and creating beliefs in the first place we would be much healthier. For that to occur we must accept what we are doing, we must own our pretense in the most personal sense of the word. Once we have done this, to whatever degree we are capable of at the time, then our acceptance can be extended beyond that of our personal pretenses to accepting the rest of the world.

By acceptance I do not mean we must capitulate or embrace everything. For example, I can accept that someone is violent and needs to be locked up just as easily as I can accept that they are still a human being and deserving of whatever help we can afford them. The real distinction between acceptance and denial is not my behavior, althought that matters too, but my attitude or affect. If my heart is clear then my actions will be clear and unsullied by beliefs.
madmaxthundercats
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Posted 11/08/09 - 06:10 AM:
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unenlightened wrote:
It's very simple - go outside yourself. The more one focuses on improving the life of everyone, rather than oneself, the less trouble one will have. I assume you can tie your own shoelaces, and find something to eat when you are hungry, etc. After that, thinking all the time about what I want, or want to become, or ought to be, is a recipe for unhappiness and ineffectiveness; forget all that and start acting in the world. smiling face


How does attempting to improve the lives of others make our own lives less complicated? If we have a hard enough time figuring out what's best for us, how can figuring out what's best for the rest of the world be any simpler?
unenlightened
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Posted 11/08/09 - 09:55 AM:
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madmaxthundercats wrote:


How does attempting to improve the lives of others make our own lives less complicated? If we have a hard enough time figuring out what's best for us, how can figuring out what's best for the rest of the world be any simpler?


Don't take my word for it; try it for yourself. But I don't think I said it would be less complicated. 'Simple' is how to understand 'going outside'.

...most of our actions are the result of the past, or according to a future ideal. That's not action, that is just conformity. J Krishnamurti

"Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys
Willowz
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Posted 11/08/09 - 10:21 AM:
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unenlightened wrote:
forget all that and start acting in the world. smiling face
Ehh, if the world was so open and grateful for help I'd be another Johnny Appleseed. Lately people don't want any help. They've become o so hard. Don't understand me wrong. But I'd hate curing only the symptoms, rather the whole problem.

This song will prepare you for a good smile.
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