Personal growth: Fear, doing, and confidence November 13, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Fear and Anxiety.Tags: achieving goals, life, negative thinking, philosophy, Ray Bradbury, self-actualization, self-improvement, writing
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Trying something new often stimulates a fear component which can immobilize us, whether it is in our self-actualization and self-improvement program, or something simply related to daily living.
The fear of doing something can be minor, or it can be overwhelming, depending on both our confidence level, and the magnitude of what we are attempting.
In our minds we can up with an assortment of reasons why we should (a) postpone doing what we are contemplating, or (b) completely retreat, deciding to not do anything.
The key reason that we often hesitate or pull back is that we might we might fail.
The writer Ray Bradbury has advised us to jump off the cliff (of doing) and to build our wings on the way down.
We will usually be pleasantly surprised to realize that we can fly.
— Dennis Mellersh
Personal growth futility: Trying to live totally in the now October 10, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Living in the Now.Tags: inspiration, life, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, self-improvement, writing
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Many of us fail to follow the advice of those personal development experts who tell us to focus on, and live the present moment. We fail because, unless the present moment is a crisis or a totally absorbing experience, our thoughts will bounce around between the present, the past, and the future.
Without the past we would have no memory, and effectively, no life.
Without the future, we would have no imagination or hope.
By definition, imagination and hope embody a future scenario.
And, studies now show that we spend a lot more time thinking about the future than we do thinking of the past.
Indeed, the concept of personal growth, self-actualization, and self-improvement is anticipatory.
Perhaps if we were in a total meditative state, and constantly “in the zone”, so to speak, we could devote the bulk of our energy to thinking on the present moment, but leading a normal life, it’s not realistic.
More achievable is using the now, the present, this moment, as a basis of learning and appreciation which we can remember and use as a foundation for creating our future.
— Dennis Mellersh
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