- Just Dandy Stuff
Be A Better Person
Updated: Jan 9, 2022
DESIGN CREATED BY JUST DANDY STUFF
Be a better person. Simple. Oh, so simple.
This statement is so simple, yet so true. Is it a mantra, a directive, or advice? What a difference this world would be if each of us just tried each and every day to be better, do better. Wear this design to express the importance of doing and being better. Maybe you wear it to remind those around you, or, maybe you wear it to remind yourself. Either way, it is a message to us all, simple and clear. Be a better person.
This product is designed by and is solely owned by Just Dandy Stuff
Share ideas and suggestion about how each of us could be a better person on our social media platforms. Let’s all do our part for ourselves, those around us and the rest of the world.
THE STORY BEHIND THIS CREATION
by the Designer
Be a better person. Do we need this reminder? To ourselves? To others?
It is so simple, yet so true. Be a better person. Isn’t this what we want for ourselves? For those around us?
It is a given that as each day passes, time progresses, we age, we grow. Time is always dynamic, always moving, changing, advancing.
But is there forward progression? Always? Really?
At the inception of life, infants are mostly immobile, not able to walk or talk and movement is significantly limited. From birth to age five, each human learns more in the first five years of life than at any other point in time in their lifetime. More than 85% of a child’s core brain structure develops within this short time frame.
Take pause for a minute and digest this.
Wow, it seems to be true. This is what an infant in its first five years of life does. When a baby is born, it cannot walk or talk and its mobility is quite limited. Within the first year, an infant must teach itself both verbal and non-verbal communication, be it a cry or pointing or laughing. The baby is trying to communicate with its parents, its caregivers. Then the baby learns how to become mobile, then crawling, then walking, then running. And then the baby needs to understand and utilize all of its senses-sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Sensory learning helps the baby understand its environment and those around them. As each day passes, there is significant definitive forward progress in an infant’s life at such an accelerated rate in comparison to the rest of its life.
Why does this all slow down, stop? Why isn’t there this continuation of forward progress at such an accelerated rate?
This only describes the mental and physical. What about the emotional aspect of the human lifecycle?
It is a common fact each of us experiences emotional growth, however, it has been determined this slows down or stops by the age of 25. Huh?
"It is no longer the power of nature enabling each of us to grow. It is the free will, the deliberate act each of us takes to move forward."
So, from birth to 25 the emotional part of humans evolved and became, for lack of a better term, an adult. Defining 25-year-olds as adults in some cases is debatable. However, scientifically this is deemed the age whereby humans are fully mature, both physically and emotionally.
The question remains on both the physical and the emotional aspect of human life, where is the forward progression after the age of 25? Why don’t we continue to learn and grow at the same pace? At any pace?
If we understand this perspective, after the age of 25 humans are considered an “adult” whereby the natural progression of learning and growing, both physically and emotionally, ends. Growth is no longer expected by nature’s cycle. When natural progression is no longer expected, do humans become stagnant? Does progress become stagnant? Without forward progress do we stall? Revert backwards?
Does this mean growth and progress in humans after the age of 25 is only possible by choice?
It is a great misperception we ‘naturally’ continue to grow throughout our lives. It is no longer the power of nature enabling each of us to grow. It is the free will, the deliberate act each of us takes to move forward.
Science has proven only one thing. All humans are not alike. Humans are individuals. Humans have free will. Humans have choice.
Life, as time, is always in forward progression. It’s always dynamic, ever changing, moving forward, advancing. But if each of us do not progress forward as part of nature, what becomes of us?
It is a hard fact to accept that as a mature human, conscious effort must be taken to progress, to learn, to grow. Some humans are more mature than others even after age 25. Even beyond 45.
How do we continue to grow when nature has stopped the process for us. This is where self-reflection and self-action takes a major role in growth and progress in all humans.
Purposeful action is the major important factor for forward progress after age 25 in humans. Each of us must be mindful to grow and progress for the rest of our lives.
Since nature is no longer responsible for our forward progression, each of us are now responsible for our own growth mentally and emotionally. It is no longer nature or nurture; it is self-reliance and willful purpose to continue growing. It is the mindset of each of us to want change. To make change. Well, how do we change?
Looking backwards to our not so distant past (say the 2000s) where the newest fad in our lifetime became the “Vision Board” where we pasted pictures of all the things we set out to achieve. Each of us cut out pictures of how we wanted our future to look. We cut out images of money, a yacht, an Ivy League education, love, a family…the list went on. We pasted them in our boards. We utilized this poster board as our goal, our task list.
The concept of these vision boards were very simple. Looking at images were supposed to signal our brain, more so our subconscious brain, to seek opportunities and achievements to the end goal of our desires. The vision boards were supposed to stimulate our subconscious to our conscious to remind us our wants and therefore, seek opportunities to gain these not so hidden wishes and wants each of us had. We attempted to obtain as many or all of the things on our vision boards.
An article for Psychology Today pointed to several studies that showed people who visualize a positive outcome may not have taken the necessary actions to attain their goals. The effectiveness of the vision boards were never actually “scientifically” proven. Some might say it proved the contrary, whereas, people who visualized a positive outcome on a consistent basis may not have taken the concrete steps to make their goals happen. Huh?
Well, there might be some truth to this. Science has also stated video games (and most of the cartoons from our childhood) with a tremendous amount of violence if played (or watched) repeatedly resets the human mindset where it desensitizes the violent actions and responses of empathy and accepts the actions and/or tolerates the violent actions and becomes numb to it.
So, vision boards can be good and might force us to take action, but because it is constantly being viewed it limits us to an acceptance of inaction towards the goals we set out for ourselves. (Thank you science for clarifying this). And while violence is bad, if we are inundated with the visual over and over again, we negate the emotional and empathetic reaction and condone the actions as the norm. Science continues to “test” to see why some humans act or react the way they do in both cases of the vision boards and with constant interaction with violence and negative behavior. The results are not in yet.
Science has proven only one thing. All humans are not alike. Humans are individuals. Humans have free will. Humans have choice.
"Either way, we should continue to strive, to grow, to progress. To be a better person"
While your goals may or may not be achieved because you created a vision board and while you may or may not react to violent actions with outrage or empathy because you play too many video games, it is again your power and your will to act.
So, when science has and continues to thoroughly research human’s physical and emotional growth, what science cannot research is the power of free will.
After the age of 25 nature is no longer in power of our individual evolution or growth. After 25 when nature no longer dictates growth or forward progression, it is up to choice and free will from each individual human. Each of us has this power. Each of has this choice.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the will. However, just as the infant we once were, we must take the first step. If we didn’t take any steps, well, where would we be? Whatever direction we want and however our approach is, we cannot run until we walk. Baby steps. And these baby steps, as proven in our first five years of life, will always lead to change.
Change, (especially originating from conscious willful acts and not natural unconscious predisposition), can only be for the better (would anyone want to change to be worse—and even if they did, again free will, free choice). So how do we change for better? We must want to make the change, to grow, to evolve, to progress.
The decision, the choice, the standard, the actions, the pace—are all derived by the individual human. It is only the individual human that can take action. Whether through a vision board, a personal experience, an internal desire or just a moment of clarity when it appears a change is needed, the human mind and will must rely on its own devices to assess and determine for itself what’s next.
Messages of positivity, messages of action, messages as reminders remain the most effective way to remind humans to continue to grow, for the better. Be a better person, do better, act better. It is an individual choice. It is an individual action. It is an individual definition. It is an individual standard. To be better can be as simple as learn a new word each day (thank you word of the day calendar), or to do a kind gesture for someone (say have a nice day to a stranger and mean it), or to apologize for our past actions and to make amends (you know what you did), or to be kinder to ourselves (give yourself credit where credit is due), or to… No matter what the act, no matter how big or how small, no matter the situation, we should always try to progress towards better. It is no longer the act of nature that leads us to growth or maturity. We are each left to our own devices.
This message, “Be a Better Person,” well, it is a simple ask, and a simple reminder. And it should be a simple task. The action to be better could be internal and impact us or it could be external and effect those around us. This message can be a directive to ourselves or a reminder to everyone. Either way, we should continue to strive, to grow, to progress. To be a better person.
