Ten Points for Personal Growth

We all know this fundamental truth: Before you care for others, you must care for yourself. (This goes for caring for the environment as well.) Why? First, as you pursue the significant work you’ll be doing in life, you must learn how to reliably find your optimum place for important conversations with people you love, with people you hope to influence, and with people in need. Two, the processes you learn to care for yourself are just the ones you’ll pass on to the community you are involved with and empowering.

My advice for your personal process to maintain the balance you need in life will be as unique as you are, but I sat down one day and jotted down a few things I consider foundational to personal care and growth in general. Here are the results:

1

Diet, exercise and body. We all need to meet ourselves in the middle on these things, but they are foundational to living and feeling well. I want to help you make sure you’re on a path you feel good about when it comes to taking care of your physical self.

2

Finances. There are few things more stressful or derailing than financial uncertainty. We need to understand our means, responsibly live within them, and make reasonable plans for unexpected events and the future. Then we’ll have the sanity and foundation we need to take on our meaningful ideas oozing with potential.

3

Centering habits. One of my greatest joys is to teach meditation, which I believe takes personal instruction – it’s not something you can learn from a book or mobile app. Or you may have your own centering process. Yoga? Prayer? Journaling? As long as it’s something you enjoy and reliably creates an environment in which body and mind are able to sync and you obtain clarity on what comes next.

4

Dealing with conflict. Our strong emotions are intended to guide us into safer and more powerful places. Are you listening to them? By handling your conflicts well, you are also creating an environment where people you care about are able to make healthy decisions for themselves as well.

5

Supporting your inner child. Never stop dreaming and chasing after your goals – however serious or silly. This may mean you dip your toe in a trajectory you’re interested in each week or it may mean you drop everything and pursue your ideal.

6

Down time. You need rest, and I think you even need to regularly brush up against boredom if you’re going to have the creative power and energy to live a powerful and compassionate life.

7

Purpose. You need a core drive that makes the world a better place for a wide spectrum of humans. This may be related with the way you make a living, but it doesn’t have to be.

8

Knowing when to get the details right and when to ignore them. We can inundate ourselves at times with pettiness that is not really necessary as a way to avoid the larger steps we need to be taking. But on the other hand, we must pursue purpose with excellence and passion. There will be lists. There will be sequence and proper organization. Progress to the extraordinary is inevitable if you know where you’re going, and you’ve unlocked each of the ordinary steps to get you there.

9

Global reach. Make our interconnected world part of your daily experience. We all need to develop compassion that reaches both our neighbors and people in need on the other side of the planet.

10

Dialogue. Even when pursuing all the beauty and excitement above, we can tend to create enclaves of people who think and behave a lot like we do. Seek to understand what makes other people tick, empathize with their experience and perspectives, and gently share your own. Never walk into a conversation assuming you have the answer.

Where do you stand personally on each of these points? Do you have the footing you need for balance and personal growth? Are you poised to offer healing to the people around you? Visit my Lift Off page today to kick off an engaging discussion on one or all of these important topics.