Remember when you were a child and someone swear in front of you and you tell them to drop 10p into the swear jar as a reminder never to swear again?
Well, self-improvement jar works the same way except that you use it as a mean to improve yourself.
I remember when I was in my first year of university, My conversation was filled with Malaysian slangs and it got a wee bit annoyed because my friends had difficulty understanding me. I tried to improve but with lots of difficulty due to my upbringing. I seriously wanted to be better so I decided to implement the 'broken English' jar. Every time I caught myself speaking with Malaysian slang, I will have to drop 10p into the jar. The money in the jar will then goes to charity. By mid-2nd year, my jar was completely empty all throughout and I even surprised myself with proper British English.
My motto is this: "If I can do it, anybody can do it!" and the same vice versa
We just need the determination, honesty, integrity, and willingness to make it works wonders.
That's why I thought I might want to come up with variety of self-improvement jar to keep improving myself.
I know most people won't be bothered by it. In fact, they might laugh over how naive the idea is... That's fine. I am changing and improving myself - not them. I am making myself a better person - not them. They can stay behind if that's what they want - I'll just keep moving forward. After all, it is my life and my race. Nobody can run my race for me except myself. So it's best I focus on improving myself and keep running my own race. But if anybody wants to join me, I'll be happy to share my tips and tricks with you.
As a Christian, there are so many fruits of the Spirit that we need to attempt in order to be like Jesus.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
I possessed some of them but lack of so many others. I know it's hard to change and I really do want to change for goodness-sake.There are some part of me that, if not careful, can ruin my entire life and my relationship with people.
There are also many other characters and personality that the bible verse did not mentioned and I should head up as well; so that every single moment of my life, I can and I WILL become a better person. I do not want to wait for people to tell me things because 1) I am an adult and I should be expected to know the do's and don't's and 2) it will be extremely embarrassing if I constantly required telling off every single time.
So I came up with the idea of implementing a 'self-improvement/ Fruit of the Spirit' jar with all the characteristic of the fruit of the spirit. Every time I catch myself hating someone for whatever the reason, I will have to put in 10p into the jar. Every time I kick a fuss because I cannot get things my way, another 10p into the jar. Every time I get impatient over things, another 10p into the jar... Eventually the jar will be full and the money will go straight to charity.
By the time the amount of money in the jar dropped significantly, we know that I am improving.
To me, this is the perfect way to train oneself; because I believe that all of us have the desire to improve in every aspect possible. But self-improvement is so subjective that we cannot really see the changes in us that's why most of us gave up midway. We have nobody to tell us things/ we don't want people to know that we need to change and etc. So in order to help ourselves to get an idea of our personal development, the 'self-improvement' jar will serve as a perfect visual cue to our overall refinement.
Negative thoughts counted too. So please cease out the fear, anxiety and former negative thoughts. They should be 10p apiece too. And I am glad to say that I haven't put in a single pence yet although I will soon find myself filling it up in no time - because negative thought is my worst enemy.
Well, hopefully in a year or two, I will be a complete changed person and the jar will be empty for the rest of my life. (And yes, this is obviously going to be my lifetime jar.) I can change the jar anytime I want, but the purpose has to remain the same forever. That way I can lead a purposeful life that is completely filled with the Fruits of the Spirit.
Note: Feel free to create your own rules to live by. If you think you lie more than your liking because it has become a habit, then include that. if you think you are rude to someone because it just happened spontaneously and has become part of your natural reaction, then include it as well. Honestly, it is your choice of how and what you want to change in yourself.
As for myself: It is to completely case-out all my weaknesses and seriously develop a stringent positive traits that is to the Fruit of the Spirit because I find it rather disturbing when people avoid me without telling me why; and then later I learn that it is due to my negative traits that ruin my relationship with others. It hurts because I didn't expect to lose my friendship just like that; but there is no blaming others for my own fault. So in order to keep all my current and future relationships, it's best I do something with myself rather than expecting other people to be patient with me. Honestly speaking, even the most patient person will one day reach their wit-end. So best is NOT to get there at all! And in order not to get to their nerves, the best thing is to do something to change myself completely so that I can easily avoid unwanted trouble again; because let's say: 90% of the time, the problem did come from my side after all. So why not admit it and change it for the better?
