Joshua SciarrinoLast name; “Sure-Reno”

Continuous Self Improvement, My way of life is KaizenFiled Under: Self Improvement

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DISCLAIMER: If you detest spiritual talk, or any philosophical things. Please avoid this post.

I’m a very unique individual. I say this proudly, not loudly. (Volume doesn’t equal comprehension ;))

Anywho, I’d like to give my readers an insight to my mind, my philosophy. If this frightens you, please stop reading now and read another post. I don’t nor won’t post all the time on my philosophy but I don’t mind sharing it, nor am I ashamed.

Literally, when I started this post, I had no idea what ‘Kaizen’ is, nor did I have any plan on putting it in the title of my post. I just knew that I’m a person who seeks continuous self improvement.

Kaizen (pronounced ‘ky-zen’) is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. [1] This sums up fully, what I’m trying to convey. Life isn’t just physical, nor just mental, it’s spiritual, social, economical, and many other dynamics. I’m not saying ‘be rich‘ or ‘be perfect‘ or ‘be such and such‘. I’m saying be the best you can be, at whatever you do/are.

This is my way of life. This is how I live life everyday.

• When I work, I do the best as I can. If I mess up, I improve upon it.
• When I come to a certain belief, spiritually, then find better ideas later. I modify the old and polish the new.
• When I see myself gaining weight, I lose it. If it creeps back…I let it but over time, I lose the weight again.
• When I realize I pissed someone off because of a comment, I modify my way of reacting to people.
• When I see an error in others, I try to fix it in myself.

I’m like warm clay in the Potter’s hands. Although I’ve said a bunch of ‘I’ statements, it’s not really me doing all the work. It’s really Jesus empowering me to do such tasks. (For more on my faith)

Scripture teaches me (Col. 2:10) that I’m complete in Christ but it also teaches me that I’m to be continually pursuing perfection (Matt. 5:48). To many non-believers of Christianity, it would be a good point for you to interject and say ‘CONTRADICTION!!!’. :p  But seriously, it’s an oxymoron, a dichotomy that we must balance.

For me, I look at ‘you are complete‘ and pull acceptance, fullness, and the need to pursue perfection extinguished. So, I’m complete, as the verse states, I’m perfect as I am. I can just sit here and do nothing, and God is cool with that because I’m fully accepted by Him. Also, there is the other verse where it encourages me to do something unobtainable, ‘be perfect as your Father is perfect‘. To ‘be‘ something, is to exist as, something. For example: A rock is being a rock. A rock can’t be a flower because a rock’s nature is a rock, not a flower. Instead, the verse is encouraging me to strive and pursuing the qualities of my Father (perfection, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-controlling, slow to anger, etc)

I bring Scripture up because I’m a Christian and many things that the 66 books teaches (in it’s context) is what guides my entire life. So, this principle of ‘your perfect but be like your Father’ is a daily mandate for me. It’s something I try to obtain. I try not to condemn myself because ‘I’m complete in Christ‘. I’m fairly conscientious, so being too negative on myself is an issue and it’s something I’m trying to improve =).

In Conclusion: I hope after reading this you smile =) and consider how I view my life. That you’d actually think about ‘are there areas in my life, that I think I can do better’. Smile and enjoy your Kaizen life.