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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.

Imagination, persistence, and courage in personal development March 11, 2012

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Self-Discipline.
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In our efforts towards self-improvement or personal development, discouragement, and even fear, may set in periodically as our personal growth goals are not being realized as fast as we would like.

In this case persistence and courage are two of the personal development traits that we need to develop. While doing some research on various approaches to goal setting and self-realization, I came across the following statement by Winston S. Churchill, in which he speaks of persistence and courage in trying to stay true to our guiding principles: “Never give in; never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

For sensitive and introspective people who are working on a program of self-improvement or personal growth and development, however, our personalities can sometimes produce fears and self-doubts and thereby interfere with our efforts towards our personal growth goals. Our imagination, can lead us into periods of intellectual uncertainty and fearfulness.

However, as Churchill points out in another comment, these fears are normal for sensitive, imaginative people: “You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination.”

These quotations are from a speech Churchill gave in 1941 during the 2nd World War, a talk that has become known as his “Never Give In” speech.