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Personal growth: Self-awareness, imagination, optimism April 26, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth, Personal Development Potential.
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As a person who is seriously interested in, and is studying the concept of personal growth and development and applying its principles, you possess four key enabling characteristics:

(1) Intuitive self-awareness
(2) A desire to learn
(3) A sense of optimism
(4) A well-developed imagination

Self-awareness

You have arrived at the discipline of self-improvement with a realistic sense of your own capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.

You have definite ideas on the areas of your life you would like to improve.

And this is an intuitive perception. You have not turned to personal development because someone else has told you to do so – you have decided yourself that it is a project worthy of your attention.

A Desire to learn

Your realization that there are areas for improvement in your life, coupled with your strong desire for self-actualization, acts as a strong incentive for wanting to thoroughly  investigate the concepts and principles of self-improvement, to find out what is involved, and to put the principles into practice.

Optimism

Although you are well aware there are negative personal attitudes, emotions, and behaviours that you would like to modify or correct, you have a strong sense of possibility that you can do this successfully.

You are not a day dreamer; rather, you are optimistic that you will achieve the goals you plan in your personal growth program.

A productive imagination

Most important, perhaps, is your ability to imagine, or visualize positive outcomes through your study and application of the principles of self-improvement.

Outcomes such as:

  • Better control of your emotions
  • Developing independent thinking patterns
  • Improving your inter-personal relations with other people
  • Creating a heightened sense of purpose for yourself
  • Achieving greater integrity in your thinking and in your actions
  • Increasing your abilities in certain areas
  • Gaining a greater sense of who your are (1)

 

(1) Outcomes paraphrased from Arthur Chickering`s concept: The Seven Vectors of Personal Development.

Personal growth: Self-awareness, commitment, limits April 25, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Personal Development Potential.
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If we are planning to undertake a program of personal development, we better have a good idea of our true intentions, available energy, and our degree of commitment to this path.

In other words we need to be aware of our limits.

We will need to dig deep internally within our own self-awareness, to know just how much effort we are willing, or are able, to commit to the full development of our self-improvement potential.

Better to establish realistic parameters to our improvement program, and perhaps do it in stages, than to set overly high standards for long-term achievement, only to fall short and then suffer from the resulting discouragement.

In studying the concept of personal development in contemporary materials we will encounter the idea that if we are truly dissatisfied with our current life, we will need to make huge changes if we are to achieve the progress we want.

However, while it may be true that major changes are required, it is generally the case that attempting too much all at once is not likely to lead to success.

The problem of self-deception

It is even more self-destructive if we know that we have circumstances in our lives that will limit how much time and effort we can devote to our program within any given time frame.

It is not true commitment if we know within ourselves that there are limits (exterior or personal) to our commitment to improve.

Thousands of years ago, Confucius commented on our tendency to deceive ourselves:

“Jan Ch’iu * said: ‘It isn’t that I’m not happy with your Way, Master, but I’m just not strong enough.’
‘If someone isn’t strong enough,’ replied the Master, ‘they give up along the Way. But you’d already set your limits in advance.’” (1)

*A Disciple of Confucius and a Minister for the House of Chi

(1) Confucius, The Analects, as translated and interpreted by David Hinton in his book, The Four Chinese Classics