The Beauty of Living
BY: T. Franklin Murphy | April 2018
Flourishing Life Collection
Finding Joys to Outweigh the Sorrows
We are surrounded by beauty. In the struggles of daily choice, we need to slow down, smell the sweetness and then get back to work.
We bask in the warmth of the sun, are stunned by the beauty of the flowers, and curl up in the comfort of love. Life is beautiful. Experience tickles the sensations, sending waves of feeling throughout our bodies. But too much sensation overwhelms the system, shutting down normal processing, and requiring disrupting adaptations. We progress and mature through optimal levels of sensation. Our abilities to manage experience should be challenged but not trampled. Character forms when experience is between ease and chaos. Without challenges we stagnate, expecting too much from others, and growing accustomed to idleness. With chaos, we become discouraged, unsure how to act, so we seek escape. Our choices play a role in the future environments, whether chaotic or managed.
Undisciplined and impatient, we may chase pleasures; immediate gratifications without intelligent consideration of future impact. Our childhoods are ripe with these choices. As we mature, and with proper guidance, we develop deeper awareness to the costs and rewards of present choice. Studying for the exam has a greater reward than another night of drinking with the boys (or girls). But the stages of growth are fluid, not recognizable, and sometimes regrettably missed. The adult consequences of poor choice can be high. When self-discipline remains unexercised it withers, life erupts into a chaotic mess. Our pain, instead of examined and resolved through rebuilding, often is excused, projected and denied. Climbing free of the madness is no longer from easily recognizable steps. Instead of seeking help, or integrating proven remedies, we drift into fantasy, thinking a quick fix will solve our lifetime of poor choices.
The atmosphere of our lives is muddled with the stormy disarray of destructive choices. "As we mature, and with proper guidance, we develop deeper awareness to the costs and rewards of present choice." When recovery is unclear, the path obscured, we must approach change through the small identifiable steps of personal change, enhancing resources and improving skills. Even though lifestyles may have alienated us from normalcy, we must waddle through the uncomfortable relationships to regain clear insights of living. We need an anchor to reel in faulty perceptions. Slowly, insights are gained, our choices improve, limiting future difficulties, creating a friendly future, organizing the turmoil of our current chaos. With growing skills and less difficulties, life becomes manageable; not easy. We then can respond with confidence; our growth softens the wounds from the past, lessens the fear of failure, and minimizes doubts for the future.
Recovery brings us back to the split in the road where we previously errored. But this time, with additional experience, we proceed with wisdom, starting over, a little worn and behind, we still can achieve greatness, basking in the sunlight, stunned by the beauty of the flowers, and curling up in the comfort of love. Life is beautiful. 
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