Personal Growth-Personal Development

When we talk about Personal Growth; Personal Development is part of that topic i.e. Change! In my previous post we discussed the need to examine ourselves to see “if” or "where" we needed to make changes. I believe as I have stated that most “humans” need some kind of change; not in those exact words,but if you have read the latter post about Personal Growth-Change, I think it went something like; if we review ourselves as we review others….is this possible? In reading the book, titled: “Slow to Speak-Quick to Listen by Dr. Wayne Dyer, I became more aware that we learn more sometimes by listening. Reading between the lines sometimes tells us more than a thousand words. One particular line went something like this: “If I knew you and you knew me, as we each know ourselves”. Hey, that is really a mouth full, isn’t it? We all know that somewhere in us, there are probably failures, just as there is a lot of positive creations in our life. If we can stop to realize that there is some good in everyone, when life is sweeter. I know myself better than anyone, and I know that I have need for improvement.

In consideration of how we “might” need to induce our Personal Growth-Personal development, it is probably an important aspect for us to stop reviewing others to begin with. When I say this, I actually mean without indignation but with consciousness of what we can do for ourselves to improve where we are and what we do not want to be like or more like. Of course, I know that in any part of our endeavor for Personal Growth-Personal Development i.e. change; we must review our relationships. The book I mentioned above was about our relationships, not just our companion or family. It was about our association with others in general. When to keep your mouth shut, zipped….closed, if you will! I really have a hard time with this one…I am very quick to defend myself when I would do just as well (tune into my efforts for Personal Growth i.e. Personal Development) to let it go and let the situation speak for itself. Being defensive is a sense of insecurity, developed along the way for any number of reasons. I know what those reasons are but won't indulge you at this time. You know you own so they probably resemble each other....

I don’t know about you but for me in my Personal Growth and Development endeavor, I would love for others to see me as a fantastic person. yourstrengths. Oh, I am not meaning that I “think” I want to be seen as perfect. I am sure most of us want to be one of those people that “lights up the room” when we walk in. Oh, come on , let’s be honest….at least we don’t want to be the person who shuts down the party!!! We all want this in our life, whether we are searching for personal growth- personal development strategies or not. No use of denying; psychology tells us, what part I have studied, is that we are all basically more alike than we want to admit. Doesn’t do any good for you to say you’re not, it has been proven. (I did not say this, the Psychology books did). When I took some courses in nursing (psychology one of them) I stumbled upon some great content for my Personal Growth and Development; it helped me come to terms with who I was and that I was pretty normal, with the same feelings and needs as everyone else.  One of the most important aspects of this short stint of study was that it taught me how to have better relationships and not be as judgmental.  

We all want to be well thought of, we all need praise, we need to be loved, and we all need to be recognized for something, by someone, and at some point, (sometimes-most of the time). Remember we are talking about our Personal Growth and Personal Development and we should tell the truth. If not then, why are our feelings hurt when the other guy gets their praises sang when the project is completed, and not us? Why is it that we want our named called for our opinion on a certain view point? Why is it that no one sends us flowers for a favor done? Okay! It’s okay…it makes us very human. On the other hand, in our quest for Personal Growth and Development, we have to learn that getting praised for accomplishments is not the whole glory. It is a truth that in this world of ours, that some of us never get the recognition we think we deserve or for that matter “what we deserve”. That is a truth, I know because I have been in the corporate world myself and have seen how it works. It is not always what you know how much experience you have or what your accomplishments are, it just does not always work the way it should.

There are things you have to know when you are working on your Personal Growth-Personal Development; when life is unfair and hasn’t treated you the way you think it should. It not your fault….if you have finished the task, worked the necessary hours, completed your project and know you stuff; no one can take away a job well done…and in the long run, that is what is most important. You will finally get your reward, somewhere down the line, at the right time and when you least expect it. It took me a long time to see that my hard work had finally paid off and somebody thought that I was at the top of my game. I had worked long hours, always did my work above what I thought was average (my numbers were next to number 1). Again, remember we are working on our Personal Growth and Personal Development and we need to make sure we do not get bitter during the process. Okay, I didn’t fit in the “click” either. Not that I couldn’t have, but because I just didn’t. I didn’t talk about other people, I didn’t bring gifts to the boss, and I didn’t position myself to be in all the group conversations. I didn’t speak up (I wasn’t a loud mouth) much in meetings and so on and so on. Oh, please ignore that the loud mouth thing; shall we laugh? What I did do was learn as much as possible about my job, if I didn’t know something, I looked it up and became more knowledgeable about it, worked as hard or harder than most, finished my task on time, every time and never stopped believing in myself. It was worth it all in the end but in the meantime, I learned that it is part of our Personal Growth and Development when we can see that it is not that we are recognized for a job well done but that we know within our being, we have done our best, finished the task and are at peace with ourselves.

A very important piece of information is that if we accomplish being “in charge” is that we understand that: “It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could alone”… Andrew Carnegie.

I love the text to the above message and carry the card around with me all the time. If we praise someone else for a job well done, then we also praising ourselves. If we give to others, respect, honor and dignity, we are giving ourselves these things. If we are making the right choices in our Personal Growth –Personal Development; we will see changes in our life that just might surprise us….. I sure hope so!!!!