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Should you openly discuss your personal growth? April 8, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.
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One of the temptations many of us face in becoming involved in a program of personal growth is that of wanting to tell people about our enthusiasm for the program and how we are progressing with it.

And with the advent of our enjoying the publishing/sharing capability of social media, including blogs, the “telling” can involve openly public disclosure of our views and personal experiences on topics such as self-improvement, self-awareness, building self-esteem, improving self-knowledge, and our spiritual development
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The question then arises; is it a good idea for us to “share” such personal information and opinion on open platforms?

Some say we should keep our views to ourselves.

Yet, throughout thousands of years of human history, some of the greatest thinkers in personal and spiritual growth have actively promoted their views and have exposed their innermost emotions and thoughts to public scrutiny.

It is often through their personal stories that we gain the greatest benefit.

And, had they not done so, some of the world’s best and most helpful wisdom-thinking would have gone with these forward thinkers to their graves, rather than being available to help us in our individual journeys of self-improvement.

However, for anyone thinking of openly communicating their self-improvement program, and particularly if personally identifying themselves as the source of that information, be aware that your enthusiasm may not be reciprocated by everyone who reads/views your communications.

And, oddly, the reaction of friends and family may not be positive because one of the first instincts of our friends is to try to protect us from discouragement when we are trying out a new set of ideas, or embarking on a project that has failure as a possible outcome.

In other words, if you are seeking agreement or validation of your thinking through public media you may not find it.

On the other hand, a spirited discussion may be exactly what you are looking for as a catalyst to make you thoroughly analyze and dissect your views to see if your thinking can stand up to challenges.

Further reading:

On the question of seeking validation, Seth Godin has written about the possible pitfalls of “Looking for validation in all the wrong places” at the following URL:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/04/looking-for-validation-in-all-the-wrong-places.html

The psychological benefits of breaking bad habits April 7, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Self-Discipline.
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Whatever the bad habit you want to reduce or eliminate, there will be psychological benefits within your personal growth program in addition to the positive outcomes of removing the habit itself.

By managing or eliminating a bad habit you will often gain:

Self-confidence
Self esteem
Self-empowerment
Self-awareness

The greater the hold the habit has on you and the greater the harm you perceive the habit does to you, the greater will be the psychological rewards in gaining mastery over it.

This is particularly true with the truly difficult-to-break addictive habits, such as those related to drugs (including alcohol tobacco), over-eating (fat and sugar) and other addictive forms of self-abuse.

Three suggestions:

(1) Tackle only one habit at a time; trying to beat too many at once can lead to discouragement and failure
(2) When possible or appropriate, substitute a new “good” habit for the “bad” discarded habit
(3) Take a step-by-step approach (in most cases) and tackle the habit by a process of reduction, with elimination as the final destination.

Thought for today

Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
– Eric Hoffer