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Personal growth as a practical belief system April 17, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Success.
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As a student and practitioner of personal development you are aware of the criticism leveled at self-improvement by some writers who regard the movement as a fuzzy concept of vague intentions that produces difficult-to-measure results.

However, your own experience has shown this view to be erroneous. You have seen the changes in your life brought about by your study and applications of the principles of self-development.

Overall you have strong faith or belief that the personal growth movement is actually a practical applications system producing tangible improvements, rather than being an impractical concept based on wishful thinking.

Conscientious students of self-improvement operate with a belief system in which the following concepts are considered to be true:

  • There is significant potential for improvement in people’s value systems, lives, and actions
  • Increased self-awareness can lead to the betterment of our own life and the lives of those around us
  • Increasing self-knowledge is important if we are to understand our own life-performance and the actions and motivations of others
  • Without self-actualization there is little we can do to understand or help others
  • Developing purpose for ourselves unlocks many keys to growth
  • Effective personal growth requires a skill set that can be studied and learned
  • Developing our personal strengths and talents is a duty we owe ourselves
  • Managing our emotions is one of the keys to a less stressful and more rewarding life
  • Building our own self esteem helps us increase our empathy towards other people
  • Achieving personal growth with humility enables us to help others through our actions and example
  • People can change their behaviour and thought processes or patterns and thereby move onto a more productive and rewarding emotional and intellectual plane

As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

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