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Personal growth: Is the uneventful life a key to happiness? July 20, 2017

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.
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In our quest for constant improvement through our personal development efforts, there may be a downside.

Could “more” actually equal “less?”

Would we be better off seeking fewer self-actualization stimuli?

The philosopher/longshoreman Eric Hoffer made the following observation in a moment of self-assessment in an entry in a diary he was keeping:

“Early this morning on my way to work I felt a burning pain in my arms. It seemed to me for a moment that had I been without this pain I would have been wholly happy. In a moment like this I realize how lucky we are when nothing at all – good or bad – happens to us.” (1)

(1) Eric Hoffer, Working and Thinking on the Waterfro0nt

— Dennis Mellersh

 

Personal growth: Confucius – look within for the truth April 24, 2017

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth.
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By Dennis Mellersh

As wisdom writers both ancient and modern have told us, if we want to engage in universal personal improvement, we should start with ourselves – it is the path to understanding others.

And let us not give advice to others until we have thoroughly examined ourselves and taken steps to correct our own personal shortcomings.

Confucius succinctly reminds of these truths in The Analects:

“A person’s faults are all of a piece. Recognizing your faults is a way of understanding humanity.”*

“Adept Kung was forever comparing and criticizing people. The master said, ‘To have time for such things, Kung must have already perfected himself completely. As for me, I am not so lucky.’” *

* Confucius, The Analects, translated by David Hinton in his book The Four Chinese Classics