Life Approach.

Syed Tariq Muneeer Jafry
7 min readNov 3, 2020

Life is abstract, nobody defines, what life is all about! All of us born with all the natural gifts that God has given to us, even the minutest details, are not neglected. The Almighty God has given, all the five senses Sight, Hearing, Smell, Touch, and Taste for their onward optimal use.

The Life & Human Body

The whole series of our body systems; functions automatically like the Nervous System, Circulatory System, Digestive System, Respiratory System, Sensory system, and Excretory system. Our body metabolism which converts our food into energy through a complex biochemical mechanism maintains the energy level of our body.

Neuron Cells, which keeps our mind active and agile, the heart which never gets tired, all the way long, keep pumping the oxygenated blood, into our whole body, the lungs which are working tirelessly, our kidneys, which takes out, the toxic waste, all these functions work automatically, and simultaneously without asking anything, in return. All these functions, and systems, are the bounties of God Almighty. No doubt about it, at all.

Life Approach Cycle: Internal & External Factors

Everybody has got the above-mentioned same features, as mentioned above, then why everybody, comes out different from others, in attitude, behavior, beliefs, and thoughts?

Why this anomaly of behavior exists. The reasons that in growing up, child interfaces, different socio-economic, political, environmental, educational, and different family backgrounds.

All these factors directly affect the child's mind and develop, a particular mindset, in handling different issues of life. Everybody acts and reacts, according to his inborn capabilities, which relates to the inheritance structure, or simply speaking the genes; the DNA factor, and the way he is brought up by the parents, the near and dear ones.

Most of the knowledge one obtains, from the learning through scholastic and college education, or by socializing in different groups, friends, the workplace environment, the experience that one gain, the exposure about different aspects of life, having good and bad days, handling different situations, got sickness, sometimes subtle while other time severe, facing the demise of the dear ones, the sad moments, which are hard to digest and difficult to forget, marry moment which stays for the only shorter time period and so on so forth.

Life & Approach:

The crux of life revolves around the approach [1] towards life. What one’s approach towards life is very much important? The negative approach, commonly known as, ‘Pessimistic approach’ has a destructive effect, on our overall life, and even damaged our positive efforts. In contrast, the positive approach, known as, ‘Optimistic approach,’ enlighten our mind and makes our small efforts into big ones.

Positive thinking [2], not only improves our physical well-being but also our physical health prompts, us to face the difficult moment of life with courage and strength. The approach could be of anything, about any aspect of life and on life. As it is a variable, we limit our discussion, only to a one-dimensional approach; that how it leads one's life.

The materialistic outlook of Life:

Materially speaking: an approach is termed as positive if we will be able to have, all the comforts of life, relating to; position, power, authority, prosperity, good family life, fame, and popularity. What else one can be desired. Yes, broadly speaking, these are the most common desires, in totality.

Spiritual Outlook of Life:

Whereas, when it comes to spirituality, the life approach is totally different, in contrast with the materialistic point of view. Why it is so because it negates, all the physical factors, as narrated above, not in totality but partially, the spiritual approach of life, concentrates mainly upon two major factors, one is our relationship with God Almighty, whether we are acting upon, in accordance with his divine instructions and secondly, helping the mankind, in whatever capacity we can.

According to the spiritual perspective, one is allowed to earn his livelihood, have respectable status and position, but here, all the doings are under divine limitations of God Almighty, and one has to take into account those instructions, under serious consideration. To do anything arbitrarily, and to achieve something by illegal means, are strictly forbidden. It doesn’t mean worldly affairs allow freedom to do criminal activities and in our societies, there is no code of ethics and values, certainly, there are, and every state laid much stress to maintain their writ of the government.

The penal code in every country is in practice, which is stringently followed. But the marginal difference is the moral acceptance that relates to the inward acceptance from the core of the heart; whereas the state laws are binding upon, and there is the fear of getting punished, if not adhered to properly.

Materialistic and Spiritual worlds are two different domains, which could not embrace each other. Now, where the life approach stands, between these two!

From the spiritual perspective, it has not forbidden, to earn wealth, and achieve anything which comforts you materialistically but remaining oneself with the defined limits of, ‘God Almighty.’

Whereas, a person having a materialistic approach, think first about his worldly comforts and often neglects the God Almighty instructions of Dos and Don’ts.

The Psychological viewpoint:

The psychologists are of the view that the first 03–04 years of any child are very important and crucial, as what it learns, observes, and sees, during this period, he never forgets and these impressions cast a deep lifelong, lasting impact on the child’s mindset. ‘The Personality development [3] of a child has different important elements like temperament, environment, and character.

The temperament relates to the genes, but without sufficient scientific evidence; as it relates to the nervous system to some extent. The remaining two factors environment and character are environment-specific which plays a high role in personality development, as stated in the Encyclopedia of children’s health.’

In 1956 Erik Erickson has presented an in-depth analysis of how the personality develops based on his wide experience in psychotherapy with children and youngsters of low, middle, and upper-class backgrounds.

According to him, the act of socializing (learns norms, values, behavior, and social skill), have eight different phases, each one is accompanied by, “psychosocial crises”, it is necessary to solve the crises, at each step, in order to enter into a next step.

These stages have an important influence on personality development, with five of them occurring during early babyhood, pre-teen, childhood, and youth period, as stated in the Encyclopedia of children’s health.’

Here, comes the part of the parent’s training, what we are imparting, how we are taking care of our children, and what types of learning activities, we nurture. The child learns in two ways, the first one is direct and the second is indirect.

In the direct one, he acts and reacts, what we try to physically teach him, whereas, in the indirect one, the child learns automatically, observing our lifestyle, our different actions and reactions, at different stages, how we cajole him, our emotions and feelings, our actions and reactions, our behavior with others, it all gets stored in his subconscious mind. The child acts, overtly and covertly, in accordance with his stored knowledge and observation.

Balance Approach:

The balanced approach, in general, is the neutral approach to different aspects of life, thoughts, and belief. In detail, it is the approach, in which, one is fully equipped with the worldly knowledge and skills along with his spiritual beliefs and thoughts. He acted in accordance, in both the worldly and spiritual world, by balancing his material desires and spiritual obligations.

To extend it further, from a spiritual perspective, all our efforts, in order to achieve worldly gains are the efforts in the horizontal line, these efforts materialize, only when the vertical line appears, it is the approval of God Almighty when these two lines intersect each other, it creates the positive sign, which is the symbol of success.

Conclusion:

In view of the above, strive for anything in a positive manner, work hard don’t limit yourself to only a single goal, revisit your priorities, and work accordingly.

Don’t think small, think big in life. The sky is the limit, should be your vision. Broaden your canvass of life, and put in your best possible efforts.

Temperament, sheer will power, commitment, and dedication are the major tools. By using these tools, efficiently and effectively, one day the success will be knocking at your doorstep, and you will become the role model for others.

‘Believe You Can And You’re Half Way There.’ — Theodore Roosevelt

References:

1. 4 Life Approaches and How They Affect Your Work Attitude

https://www.hubgets.com/blog/life-approaches-how-they-affect-work-attitude/

2. Positive Thinking Improves Physical Health

https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-positive-thinking/

3. Personality Development

http://www.healthofchildren.com/P/Personality-Development.html

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