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12 Reasons for considering a personal growth program April 18, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Concept of personal growth.
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Personal growth and development is a process that we sporadically engage in intuitively and unconsciously every time we develop a new practical skill (such as learning a second language) or take steps to improve life-intangibles such as helping others or improving a relationship.

However there can come a time in our lives when we may need or want a more systematic approach to improving our overall quality of life.

Here some of the signs, reasons, or circumstances that may prompt people to investigate a more formal approach to enhancing the management of their lives:

(1) Although not clinically depressed, we may feel a general sense of dissatisfaction with the progress we are making in various aspects of our lives
(2) We are aware of our strengths and talents but want to maximize them to their full potential
(3) We know our weaknesses or faults and would like to turn these into positives
(4) We have a general feeling of resignation or negativity and want to bring more happiness and optimism into our lives
(5) We feel “stressed-out” and want to achieve a state of well-being and contentment
(6) We want to bring a greater degree of spirituality into our lives
(7) We want to improve our leadership capabilities
(8) We are having trouble keeping balance in our emotions and want to achieve more equilibrium
(9) We want to achieve more autonomy and independence in our approach to life; we want to better control our destiny
(10) We feel we are drifting somewhat and want to establish a personal sense of purpose in our life
(11) We are searching for “who we are” and “what we really want to do” and want to establish a better sense or concept of self-identity
(12) Although we may consider ourselves to be a “good person” we may feel that we need to establish more consistency or integrity in our actions

 

Personal growth as a practical belief system April 17, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Success.
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As a student and practitioner of personal development you are aware of the criticism leveled at self-improvement by some writers who regard the movement as a fuzzy concept of vague intentions that produces difficult-to-measure results.

However, your own experience has shown this view to be erroneous. You have seen the changes in your life brought about by your study and applications of the principles of self-development.

Overall you have strong faith or belief that the personal growth movement is actually a practical applications system producing tangible improvements, rather than being an impractical concept based on wishful thinking.

Conscientious students of self-improvement operate with a belief system in which the following concepts are considered to be true:

  • There is significant potential for improvement in people’s value systems, lives, and actions
  • Increased self-awareness can lead to the betterment of our own life and the lives of those around us
  • Increasing self-knowledge is important if we are to understand our own life-performance and the actions and motivations of others
  • Without self-actualization there is little we can do to understand or help others
  • Developing purpose for ourselves unlocks many keys to growth
  • Effective personal growth requires a skill set that can be studied and learned
  • Developing our personal strengths and talents is a duty we owe ourselves
  • Managing our emotions is one of the keys to a less stressful and more rewarding life
  • Building our own self esteem helps us increase our empathy towards other people
  • Achieving personal growth with humility enables us to help others through our actions and example
  • People can change their behaviour and thought processes or patterns and thereby move onto a more productive and rewarding emotional and intellectual plane

As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”