Healthy
personal growth is creative personal growth. It is about exactly what it
says, growth. It is not about becoming more good or a "better" person, it is
about gaining more autonomy, becoming more authentic, more genuinely who we
are.
Healthy
Personal Growth leads to inner richness, the ability to have empathy, but it
varies from the simple idea of 'being good'. A genuine person has no need to be
malicious towards another, they would only harm themselves. But it is still not
the same as 'being good'.
Most
religions seem to have some adjunct against the mistake of going after 'being
good'. Christians say, 'The path to hell is laid with good intentions' and
Buddhists say, 'It takes all the wisdom of the wise to undo the harm done by the
merely good'.
Whatever
we are experiencing, we can grow through it if we accept it. There is no point,
for instance, trying to be happy, if we are experiencing grief, but by embracing
our grief, rather than pretending it is not there, we become deeper richer
people. Likewise there is no point in pretending you love someone if you do not.
You'll only confuse them and yourself.
Healthy
personal growth is about coming to trust yourself and finding ways to help you
to change habits you would rather be rid of. It is about becoming real and more
alive in every moment, regardless of what that moment is bringing.
Healthy
personal growth is about becoming more of who you are. Someone once said, people
grow for the same reason as the amoeba...irritation! And perhaps that is so, but
it is equally so that we grow because we have the potential to grow, without
that potential we would not feel the irritation. By learning to trust our own inner resources we can let go of the
irritation and become authentic creative beings.
There
are sections on this site concerned with meditation ,
counselling
and astrology
which can be useful for personal growth. Our theories section covers the ideas
of Freud, Jung, Carl Rogers
and Buddhism
on who we are. Here I would like to offer a few other resources.
Affirmations
Why do some affirmations work when others do not?
Alcohol abuse
help Finding help that helps. Alternatives to AA help. NewYou
can now add your comments at
the end of the second page of
this article.
Anger
Management Develop healthy ways to solve your problems with anger, while at
the same time recognise we all need our anger to protect ourselves and stand up
against wrongs.
Anger
and Forgiveness It is natural to feel anger when we believe we have been
wronged. It is also natural to forgive. Forgiveness heals the person who
forgives.
Assertion Training is a skills training where
we can learn to get our own needs met and make our own choices while not denying
the same rights to others. Great for confidence for everyone and for people
struggling with either a problem of over passivity or too much
aggression.
Boundaries
The foundation of Good Communication. Without good boundaries it is impossible
to have good communication. Throught them we can learn to communicate accepting
differences.
Transformative
Power of Anger In this article Adel Rubio describes how taking a different
approach to our anger can transform it into a positive and transformative
experience.
Friends
and Cancer: This article
was particularly written for
women and cancer and is called
Angels and Bolters. It
desctibes the various ways which
people can react to the news.
While I think it particularly
applies to cancer, it also will
be of interest and help to people
suffering any kind of misfortune
where we would like some support
and is I think quite accurate
of stereotype but also quite
real ways in which people react.
How to Save Yourself from Negative
Influences, by Zaak OConan. We cannot always avoid negative
influences but Zaak offers ways we can protect ourselves from being influenced
by them.
Personal
autonomy Personal autonomy is our right to be self determining. It is an
issue of particular importance when people are involved in any kind of
therapeutic situation.
Personal
Growth Software Questions whether software can be helpful for personal
growth and information on a variety of products available.
Self Esteem in a
Hostile World One person's system for protecting himself from hostile
people and moving out of their influence.
The Voiceless
by David Irwin. Through a poem and following article David Irwin reminds us of
the importance of having our own voice and being listened to
