We can, thanks to our daily actions, partly influence the smooth running of our existence. Deliberately or intuitively, everyone has their own way of doing it. What’s yours? Here are ten questions to find out.
Points Count
For each question, circle your answer and add up your A, B and C. Then refer to the decryption that corresponds to you.
| ● | ◼︎ | ▲ | |
| 1 | A | B | C |
| 2 | B | C | A |
| 3 | C | A | B |
| 4 | A | C | B |
| 5 | B | A | C |
| 6 | C | B | A |
| 7 | A | C | B |
| 8 | B | C | A |
| 9 | C | B | A |
| 10 | A | C | B |
Results
Majority of A: Taking care of yourself
The path to self-esteem… “Well-ordered charity begins with oneself”, the saying goes. Indeed, how to embellish your existence without starting by taking care of yourself? If the ego is wobbly, it withdraws into itself or only contemplates the outside on the register of lack (“All that I don’t have”) or envy (“All that I would so like to have”). These are not the best bases for making your life more beautiful… This is why your intelligence of life is an intelligence of yourself: you know that it is when you feel like you are coming into your own skin that you are most capable of receptivity to what is beautiful and good around you. Self-care is a prerequisite for you to open up to the world and to others.
Note: this attitude assumes that you have distanced yourself from the temptation of comfortable selfishness. To make your life more beautiful is to be able to forget yourself because you are doing well. And then no longer have expectations or demands towards others or the human race: we are ready to give without concern for reciprocity, just for fun. The ego is then useful for opening and not a bulwark against the world.
Majority of B: By giving and receiving
The way of the bond…Goethe recalled: “For me, the greatest torture would be to be alone in paradise.” How beautiful could our lives be if they weren’t based on fulfilling relationships with our fellow human beings? Your taste for others is a matter of both wisdom (accepting others as they are) and willpower (feeding yourself and nurturing them). Making your life more beautiful means extracting the best from every possible relationship. Relational foods are sources of inspiration and repair for you. You live on love in all its forms; from the calmest (curiosity and tolerance for others) to the most intense (passion in love or love for one’s children.) You take in and learn a lot from others. But you are also giving, helping them grow and achieve their best.
Note: living for and through the relationship is a source of wealth, but supposes accepting that this relationship is sometimes imperfect or disappointing, and not sinking into dependence or fleeing into altruistic self-forgetfulness. Making your life more beautiful by exchanging with others is ultimately only one of the ways to put yourself back at the heart of our condition: humans are social animals…
Majority of C: Wanting to change the world
The path of action, of commitment, of solidarity…You have this acute awareness that the world around you is unfair and imperfect. You know how to savor the good sides, but you want to act to make it better. For this, it is impossible to remain a spectator. A good life is a small role! To make your life more beautiful is to understand that you belong to your infinite wholes: family and social groups, mankind, nature, life… You reason in terms of global psychological ecology: the smallest material, relational, spiritual gesture plays a role in the beautification of the world, and, whenever possible, this should benefit everyone.
Note: beware of dogmatism. Don’t be critical of someone who doesn’t have your sensitivity. Everyone does what they can. Just lead by example. It is the most powerful lever to beautify the world.