This is a guest blog submitted by IrisLily22@xangaRecently I stayed over at a friend's house, and was pleasantly surprised by her evening routine. I was hugging the nearest pillow and drifting off to sleep when Maggie pulled me off the couch and pointed to her Anthology of Modern American Poetry. I was a bit confused -- perhaps I was already dreaming?
"How can we go to sleep without becoming better people?"
"I beg your pardon?"
What did that even mean?
"We have to read the poem of the day, and the story of the day, and then moisturize."
It was midnight. I seriously contemplated waiving my good-person privileges for the day.
Luckily, Maggie didn't give me a choice. We read Frank O'Hara. Recounting how a pigeon had attacked me earlier took care of the short story portion of the evening, and I happened to have Pearberry hand lotion with me, so I didn't even mind moisturizing. Maggie approved of the proceedings and wished me a good night.
Crazy as this may seem, I felt really touched. Why had I never thought about doing something like this? My friends and I started out as overachievers -- I want to learn French, I want to bake a quiche from scratch, I want rock-hard abs in under 6 minutes a day. Somehow, we never actually got to these things, though it only takes a poem a day. So I got a copy of the anthology, and began reading. It's refreshing, it's fast, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something new everyday. I recently read this article in the Times about looking at life as a matter of self-mastery rather than self-discovery. I guess I would tweak that to say that it's helpful to look at life as a matter of self-improvement.
So what do you do to become a better person and feel like you're pursuing more of the things that once challenged and/or interested you? Is self-improvement or trying new things a good way to go about your life?
Comments (10)
This reminds me of that scene in Clueless where Cher and Tai are working out (to improve physically), and read 'one non-school book a week' to improve mentally. They also talk about improving the world as a whole by helping out though school.
I like that idea; To take a few minutes and refresh one's self to feel personal growth. Like a mental measurement on the back of a door.
I am constantly working on being a better person. Right now I am on a mission to learn sign language. I am doing a sign a day.
There isn't too much I do... I try to get in at least 20 stomach crunches a day, and I got a notebook dedicated to just writing whatever comes to my mind to kind of.. clear my airways. Every day I flex my Spanish and watch some History Channel... I don't know if that counts. lol. I also consider smiling at strangers a way of self-improvement.
I try to read 2 books a month, but not 'stupid' teen books like Gossip Girl, but anything from psychology books to self help books (like he's just not that into you! or why men marry bitches, lol) or books they have you read in high school (like catcher in the rye, wuthering heights, etc - I graduated hs early, so I didn't read all those books)
I'm going to take german next semester (I *kind of* know spanish). Im going to improve my english vocabulary as well.
I'm going to try and become aquainted with my Irish and Norweigan heritages.
I also need hobbies.
im trying to get a part time job.
I also want to learn how to play the guitar and piano
I am currently working on losing 10 lbs. and ive been trying to eat healthier.
It's really all in your head.
i behave of myself, i like people respect me as a grow up girl... i trying to become myself. actually is very hard to do. yesterday, is a happy day for me because, people said i'm changing as a beautiful and hardworking girl. they started respect me and give me a happy day for living.. when you want others to respect you, you should respect others first.
I try to learn whatever life wants to teach me, and if I can't find something to learn (which is extremely rare) then I go find something I didn't know before -- although I do that even if life's teaching me something, too...heh.
I try to find time to be spiritual, to appreciate and create art, and I try to find a balance to everything in my life so that I can allow myself to live instead of simply existing in the moment.
LOOK , THINK , & REVIEW
I often review myself before I go to sleep... eg. What went wrong after I do this/that? Why did I have to do that/this? How can I do better next time?
@writingsongsforBlair@xanga - those all sound like great projects, and i loved he's just not that into you! another good book is the busy girl's guide to looking good.
withlove_elainepang@xanga - i like the idea of reviewing your day before you go to sleep. i imagine you have sweeter dreams that way.
I became a vegetarian and I'm starting to try to grow more of my own vegggies and such. Because I really believe in being more self suffieicnt and enviromentally friendly, but I wasn't really doing anything about it...
Also I'm in uni doing a degree in speech pathology, but I'm trying to get into a double degree with Arts so I can study a bunch of random stuff for no reason other then I want to... like creative writing, or french, or the history of science fiction :D