Using self-focus to reduce our resentment of others June 3, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.Tags: Confucius, ego management, personal growth, philosophy, resentment, self-focus, self-improvement
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In working our personal growth programs, one of our goals might be to minimize the negativity produced by the component of resentment in our emotional makeup.
Disapproval, envy, jealousy, and irritation with the actions, achievements and/or general behaviour of other people are all subsets of the general emotion of resentment.
Because we are doing a lot of tough internal work with trying to improve our own lives, lifestyle, and overall behaviour, it can be easy to fall into the trap of resenting others who are not following a path similar to ours.
This tendency can be the result of transferring the expectations we have for ourselves onto our expectations about other people.
To avoid this, the ancient Chinese sage Confucius suggests we focus primarily on managing our own individual personal actions and emotions:
“If you expect great things from yourself and demand little of others, you’ll keep resentment far away.” (1)
(1) Confucius, The Analects, as translated by David Hinton in his book The Four Chinese Classics
Personal growth: The first step to self-awareness May 29, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth, Personal Development Potential.Tags: achieving goals, personal development, personal growth, philosophy, self-actualization, self-awareness, self-improvement, self-knowledge
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If one of the goals in your plan for your personal growth and development program is that of increasing your self-awareness or self-knowledge, you have already taken an important foundational step towards accomplishing that goal.
How so?
Because you have already demonstrated that you possess self-awareness in realizing that some aspects of your intellectual and emotional personal makeup require improvement.
Generally people with a low level self-awareness do not realize this, nor do they make a decision to take the necessary actions necessary for improving their lives.
Additionally, by deciding to engage in a regimen of self-improvement, you are also showing that your decision to achieve greater self-actualization is more than just wishful thinking on your part; it is an action-oriented decision.
So I won’t insult your intelligence by offering you something like “7 little-known ways to increase your self-awareness.”
Increasing your perception of your identity is not something that you can accomplish in quick and easy steps. There is no formula; e.g. : a + b + x + y = self-awareness.
Rather, your perception of your true interior self will occur gradually and naturally on its own accord, almost as a by-product of your overall personal growth program.
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