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Self-awareness has limited value without actual change May 14, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal growth, Goal Setting and Realization.
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In the work we do on our personal growth and development, there are two basic principles that need to be at work:

(1) Identifying the areas within our personal emotions, attitudes, and knowledge-base that require improvement

(2) Taking action in the identified areas to make actual changes for the betterment of our lives

Sometimes however we can become preoccupied with simply identifying what needs improvement, but we take insufficient action or no action.

We do further and further research about increasing self-knowledge; and we identify techniques for creating change, but we fail to take the important step of acting and creating actual change within ourselves.

It’s an easy pattern to fall into. And it’s one of the anomalies of the concept of personal growth.

We want to make sure in our self-improvement efforts that we “do it  right”, and so we continue reading more and more, but procrastinate about taking the action steps to take us forward with goals we would like to achieve.

And truthfully, a personal growth program without action steps is really not a program at all. It is simply enhanced self-awareness without self-actualization.

Confucius alluded to this more than 2,000 years ago:

The Master said:

“Worthy admonitions cannot fail to inspire us, but what matters is changing ourselves. Reverent advice cannot fail to encourage us, but what matters is acting on it – Encouraged without acting, inspired without changing.” (1)

(1) Confucius, The Analects, as translated by David Hinton in his book, The Four Chinese Classics

The evolving process and outcome of self-realization May 13, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Self-Esteem.
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Although self-realization in some form will probably occur as a result of seriously working on a program of self- improvement, it is not really a tangible, concrete goal we can set for ourselves.

This is because self-realization, or self-actualization is by its nature evolutionary; it is a process and a journey, a hoped for ultimate destination in our personal growth efforts.

It’s difficult to make realizing the potential of the self within us a specific goal with a target-date in our planning, as is it is embedded in the ongoing, overall process of personal growth and development.

The “doing” of personal growth is thus the “becoming” of self-actualization, or self-realization.

Eric Hoffer has an interesting view of this process.

Hoffer comments, “We acquire a sense of worth either by realizing our talents, or by keeping busy, or by identifying ourselves with something apart from us – be it a cause, a leader, a group, possessions and the like. Of the three, the path of self-realization is the most difficult.”

Similarly, self-esteem, which is a subset of self-actualization or realization, is a never-ending process in Hoffer’s view, in which the individual on their own is only stable as long as they are possessed of self-esteem; and the maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual’s powers and inner resources. The individual has to prove their worth and justify their existence every day.

But all of this effort it is worth it, Hoffer asserts.

And it can go much beyond the accomplishment of realizing the potential of the self.

The end result of self-realization can be outstanding achievement in Hoffer’s opinion: “The autonomous individual, striving to realize themselves and prove their worth, has created all that is great in literature, art, music, science and technology.” (1)

(1) Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1968