Personal growth and day-tight compartments April 3, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Living in the Now.Tags: a day at a time, day-tight-compartments, focussing, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, self-awareness
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One of the challenges we face after starting a program of personal development is that the increased self-awareness we inevitably create can sometimes lead to discouragement at our perceived lack of quick progress.
When this happens, it can be helpful to try to follow the example of professional athletes who, although facing setbacks and potential failures very day, nevertheless persevere in their efforts to maximize their talents.
If you listen to interviews with professional athletes, their approach to their work usually follows a pattern:
Preparation: They continually prepare for improved performance each day
Focus on today: They try to live in day-tight compartments. Failure yesterday does not mean failure today; rather, today is a new opportunity to do better
Stressing routines: They keep doing the routines that have worked for them in the past and modify them if necessary to achieve better results
Concentration: They focus on the task at hand instead of fretting about missed o0pportunities yesterday, or worrying how they are going to meet challenges tomorrow
Control what can be controlled: They make an effort to concentrate on the elements of their lives that are within their control and try to not worry about the elements that they can’t control
Allowing the diminishment of the ego April 1, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Ego Management.Tags: A New Earth, awareness, controlling ego, Eckhart Tolle, ego management, managing the ego, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, spirituality
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As we have learned in our ongoing efforts with our personal development, our ego can have a negative effect on our ability to realize our growth goals.
This is because the ego frequently works against what we consciously know to be our best interests.
Eckhart Tolle has written and spoken extensively about these negative tendencies of the ego and of how we can control or better manage the ego’s destructive tendencies.
In his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Tolle offers a number of techniques to accomplish this.
One of these is “allowing the diminishment of the ego.”
Tolle considers the emotion of anger to be one of the ego’s main repair mechanisms. He cites the example of our being in a situation in which the ego wants us to react with immediate angry words.
Instead, Tolle suggests we resist the urge to react immediately and defensively. Instead, say nothing for a few moments, collect ourselves, and then speak with deliberation and calmness.
Reacting with anger Tolle says, “causes a temporary, but huge ego inflation.”
By contrast, reacting with calmness, yet still responding firmly and clearly, “diminishes” the ego and its defensiveness…There will be power behind your words, yet no reactive force,” Tolle explains.
By practicing this frequently, the ego’s repair mechanism of anger is thwarted, and the ego is diminished, thus making us more conscious and in better control.
Personal Development Ideas 