Better at life

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Life is all about living your best life. It is a competition between lives gunning for first place. Who is living life well? Who has the best life? Who is the Nr 1 liver (or should it be lifer?)?


We look towards the rich and famous. We look towards the spiritual and humble. We look at family, friends, associates and those we admire and secretly envy. We look towards them to get ideas about living our own lives successfully.


Recently I watched a video whose point was, life is not a journey nor a destination but a dance. We need to experience our life in musical terms, he suggested.


What I know is that we as human beings are made of body, mind, heart, spirit and soul. And without getting into philosophical discussion about the difference between, let's say, the soul and the spirit, life is made up of certain elements, and we are responsible for them.


Life is a gift, a temporary one. And we are all working on our lives every day. Some have given up and have stopped trying. They have let themselves go, and in so doing are neglecting the gift of life.


This gift is a living, breathing being, so it is not something you unwrap and say thank you and either use up or place somewhere. It is natural, organic, and it needs some love and care. It needs attention.


So the body is the easiest to take care of, to make sure it grows into a beautiful, strong and productive trunk. It needs water, lots of water. It needs nutrition, but not pollution. It needs to grow - muscle. And it needs sun.


Likewise, we need to nurture our mind, our soul and our spirit, and our heart, the chamber of love.


Somewhere I read that to have a beautiful garden, you need to tend your own garden. You water it, and prune it, and love it, and even talk to your plants, and it will become beautiful. Do not look at your neighbour's.


But I guess it is just as human to need a yardstick. How can we know if we are doing well in life if we have nothing and no one to compare to? So perhaps a little bit of healthy competition is harmless. It spurns us on to be better versions of ourselves. So long as we do not take our eyes off the ball. Our own garden. Our own life.


We have one life, and some of us have been lucky enough to have a second chance, so let's make it our best life ever!

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