jump to navigation

Personal growth, self-awareness, work that matters May 7, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Personal Development Potential.
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

In our personal development work we will encounter a lot of information about our immense potential for improvement and the need to have a plan for realizing all that we are capable of.

The hidden danger in this is that, if we are not careful, we may subconsciously make the mistaken assumption that much what we are currently doing with our lives is somehow inadequate.

Our increased self-awareness may actually lead us to believe that we are not doing work or activities that matter.

Well, what we are already doing does in fact matter, even if that work or activity is not fully reflected in the appreciation of and approval of others.

It’s great to be seeking ways to make our work more meaningful, but everything we do does not have to change the world in order to have value.

Our contributions in a variety of roles such as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, employees, employers, bosses, students – each of these roles has meaning and worth. But too often we interpret a lack of positive feedback from those in our circle of influence as a negative indicator of our contributions.

It’s important for our self-esteem to remember that our work would be missed by those in our circle, if we stopped doing it – regardless of whether we are receiving a constant stream of positive reinforcement.

Speaking of “work that matters”, here is an extreme example of  a vital and responsibility-intense life mission; that of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, as related to C.G. Jung in 1924, by one of the Pueblo leaders, Ochwiay Biano:

“We are the people who live on the roof of the world: we are the sons of Father Sun, and with our religion we daily help our Father to go across the sky. We do this not only for ourselves, but for the whole world. If we were to cease practising our religion, in ten years the sun would no longer rise. Then it would be night forever.” (1)

(1) As quoted in Gerhard Wehr’s book, An Illustrated Biography of C.G. Jung, p. 61

Personal growth: A process, not an instant solution April 27, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Personal Development Potential.
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
add a comment

As we work on our personal development and growth programs, we may reach a stage at which we feel we are not moving along fast enough with the changes we would like to make in our lives.

At such a time, we need to remember that the concept of personal development is an ongoing process. It is not meant to be a discipline whereby we read something inspirational and at that point we are immediately transformed.

Part of the process involves studying a lot of printed and online material on the topic of self-improvement and choosing from these materials those ideas and examples which will be the most helpful in each of our individual circumstances, and thereby gradually reaching our potential.

A complex time-intensive process

Critics of the self-actualization movement sometimes say, “If personal development works so well, then why is there always so much new material available and why do people keep reading such information year after year?”

The answer is because the quest of bettering ourselves is complex, and does not lend itself to formulaic packaged, “one-size-fits-all“ solutions. It takes time and a lot of effort to achieve the improved results we want to bring into our lives.

The Chinese sage Confucius reminds of this in the following:

“A boy from Ch’ueh Village had been hired as the Master’s messenger. Asking about him, someone said: ’Is he making progress?’
‘I’ve seen him sit and walk among his elders,’ replied the Master, ‘as if he were already their equal. He has no interest in making progress. He wants it all right now.” (1)
(1) Confucius, The Analects, as translated by David Hinton is his book, The Four Chinese Classics