Self-Reflection, Self-Improvement, Self-Healing
Yi Shu once said: “Everyone’s ultimate destination is oneself. In the fleeting decades of life, what one ultimately lives is always one’s own life, one’s own experiences. In reality, you are yourself, and can only be yourself. It’s like saying, whether life is long or short, good or bad, it all leads back to oneself. If you can learn to awaken and transform, the process may be difficult and agonizing. However, through reflecting, refining, and healing oneself, you can at least gain clarity on many matters and understand human nature. Ultimately, you can settle, comfort, and arrange yourself.
Self-Reflection
Understanding oneself is more important than understanding others.
In fact, it is foolish to try to understand others without any experience or insight, always trying to see through them. Because in this state of mind, and in this state, you don’t even understand yourself. If a person doesn’t understand themselves, their character and disposition, how can they possibly understand others objectively, comprehensively, and truthfully? And if one cannot be objective, comprehensive, and truthful, then it is actually of no value or significance. In other words, words spoken should have an effect, should have feedback, rather than endless, nonsensical talk. The more you speak, the more mistakes you make. Only when you understand yourself thoroughly, reflect on your behavior, can you truly understand yourself, and ultimately know where you are headed. Just as Hermann Hesse said: “A person has only one obligation: to find oneself, to preserve oneself, to move forward on one’s own path, no matter where it leads.” Experience lies in understanding oneself first, and then, through experiences, gaining insights into how to walk the path of the rest of one’s life. If you don’t know what kind of person you are, what kind of work suits you, and what kind of life you should lead, then every step you take is actually moving further away from the right direction in life. Zhou Guoping also said: “Among all the responsibilities in the world, the fundamental responsibility is to truly become yourself.” Once you understand and comprehend yourself, you can become a better version of yourself on the right path. Only then can life be more hopeful, and there can be more sunshine in life.
Self-Improvement
Once a person has a certain understanding of oneself, the focus shifts to how to concentrate on oneself and improve oneself.
A person who truly loves oneself and loves life will always strive to improve oneself as much as possible. Because only by refining oneself can one gradually shape one’s life into the desired form. Of course, the shape of life is essentially your own shape. “The Road Less Traveled” has a line: “To learn self-respect and self-love, one needs self-nurturing.” It’s like nurturing a flower, treating oneself as a flower, nourishing, taking care of, and discovering oneself. At this point, you will gradually become engrossed. For example, how to make life more comfortable, just as a flower needs sunlight, rain, and nourishing soil. Similarly, a person needs to create enough mental, spiritual, and living space to be comfortable and free. This way, one’s soul and spirit can truly unfold and blossom like a flower. When your soul is developed, open, and expansive, as your spirit is developed, open, and expansive, Yang Jiang once said: “Although a person is small, and life is short, a person can learn, can cultivate oneself, can self-improve, and the value of a person lies in the person themselves.” Life is short, but self-improvement is long. Everyone will encounter difficulties and setbacks, and may feel helpless or even extremely despondent. But life is always like this, it doesn’t need to make sense. Because your days are there, time is there, passing by, slipping away. Instead of spending time thinking about the grand truths of life, it’s better to let go, not to care. Focusing on self-improvement will make life more solid, fulfilling, and your inner self will become calmer and gentler.
Self-Healing
Life is like a process of healing; we get hurt, we heal, get hurt again, and heal again. In this world, no one is without scars.
Of course, since everyone gets hurt, the best way is to rely on oneself for healing. After all, everyone has their own wounds to heal, as every family has its own troubles. What we should aim for is to calm our hearts as much as possible, not to be impulsive, not to be irritable, and not to be extreme. Because you will always get hurt, and it means that the number of times you get hurt in this lifetime is not just once or twice, but many times. Therefore, a wise person should focus not on the wound, but on how to overcome it. This mindset will make you increasingly calm, composed, and more forgiving and letting go. This is the best way to heal. When you learn to heal yourself, you can rely on yourself to encounter more sunshine and embrace more new hopes.
