•••
WHER E TH E R E ‘ S A WI L L T H ER E ‘ S A WAY
REV CAREL BOTMA
A JOURNEY TO A BETTER
QUALITY OF LIFE!
AFTER THE RECENT
SUCCESS OF CAREL
BOTMA'S SERIES OF
ARTICLES IN A LOCAL
NEWSPAPER, THE VELDBRAND, WE DECIDED
TO INCLUDE BOTMA'S
ARTICLES IN THE SENWES SCENARIO.
D
ue to the circumstances of
life we are continuously
exposed to external factors which
could result in stress. Long-term
exposure to stress can have a negative impact on the physical and
emotional aspects of our lives. It
can eventually result in us getting
"used" to stress. However, it still
impacts on the manner in which
we experience quality of life in
a very subtle way. When this
happens the individual no longer
experiences job satisfaction and he
starts to question the meaning of
his life. He often feels as though
he is involved in a long, drawn-out
fight for survival. In short, the
individual's general satisfaction
with his life is being influenced
negatively.
The primary objective of this
series is to enable the reader to
experience higher levels of satisfaction and a better quality of life
through personal growth. This is
done by getting the reader to face
his own broken reality and by assisting him to be the best possible
50
human being, despite his broken
reality. When this series was compiled and written, all attempts
were made to combine certain
psychological principles with the
Bible in an attempt to take the
reader on a spiritual journey of
self-discovery, self-acceptance and
self-actualisation.
We hear about stress every day
and you may experience it as part
of your job and household activities. The question which arises is:
what exactly is stress? Where does
it come from? What happens to
me when I experience stress and
what are the implications of stress
in my life?
Every person has sources.
Sources refer to things such as possessions; personal characteristics
such as a person's self-image (how
do I see, experience and evaluate
myself?); health and emotional
abilities (ability to laugh, love, cry,
etcetera); socio-economic status;
reer; important people in my
career;
e; time; etcetera.
life;
eesee sources are
Thes
reat value to the
re
of ggreat
individual
diviidu
d al since it helps
with
th the forming of his
identity.
entity. In other words,
myy possessions, career, socio-economic
o-economic status, time
and
d people with whom
I have meaningful reionships
lationships
fine
defi
Feb/Mar 2016 • SENWES Scenario
nario
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rio
not only who and what I am, but
also my position in society. My
self-image or self-evaluation depends on all the sources which I
have at my disposal. This is the
reason why people never fail to
attempt to retain, protect and expand these sources.
Environmental conditions and
things that happen in our lives
often threaten these sources and
could even result in diminishing
or destroying such sources, resulting in the status, position in
the community, economic status,
loved ones, self-image, etcetera of
the person involved, being threatened. Our reaction to this threat
or possible loss of life sources often
results in stress. A moderate level
of stress is a good thing since it
can activate people to deal with
it constructively. Excessive levels
of stress can, however, result in
tension.
Join us on this journey in the
next few issues of the Senwes
Scenario!