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Personal growth: Developing the spirit of generosity May 11, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Tao Te Ching.
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One of the precepts that we soon come across in a serious study of personal growth and development is what we might call an attitudinal + action version of the Law of Reciprocation.

In the case of bringing the concept of generosity into our self-improvement program, the law is straightforward: give and you will receive.

As we increase our self-awareness, and our knowledge of the principles of personal growth as it applies to our attitudes, emotions, and behaviour patterns, we discover how generosity can benefit us in many ways; in addition to helping the recipients of our generosity.

Although the true spirit of generosity requires that our actions be done without expectation of reward, nevertheless we gain as much, and possibly more, than those we are generous towards.

We can be generous with our time, our resources, our knowledge and skills, our understanding, our acceptance, and more.

The ancient Chinese wisdom writer Lao Tzu stated the concept concisely in this excerpt from chapter 81 of the Tao Te Ching:

A sage never hoards:
the more you do for others,
the more plenty is yours,
and the more you give to others,
the more abundance is yours. (1)

(1) Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching, as translated by David Hinton in his book, The Four Chinese Classics

Personal growth: Moderation as a path to serenity May 1, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Goal Setting and Realization.
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A lack of moderation or, more precisely, the presence of excess, in virtually any component of our personal development efforts can turn the positives in our self-improvement into negatives.

Examples:

  • Too much emphasis on meditation can result in a lack of necessary actions needed to achieve goals
  • Too much action, and not enough thought, can produce an undisciplined approach to our plan
  • Over-emphasis of the intellectually abstract can dull our appreciation of the concrete and practical
  • Always insisting on total consistency in our thoughts and actions can make us inflexible
  • Overdoing our search for self-knowledge can make us less empathetic towards others

We are more likely to achieve the results we want if we take a balanced or moderate approach in our efforts towards improvement.

The tendency towards spending too much intellectual and emotional energy (and time) on one particular aspect of our plan or program is often the result of feeling we need to overcompensate for what we perceive to be a negative in a life circumstance, or intellectual and emotional make-up.

Chapter 9 of Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching sheds some light on the negative results stemming from a lack of moderation:

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity. (1)

(1) The Tao Te Ching, as interpreted/translated by Stephen Mitchell, published by HarperPerennial, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, 1991