5 Lessons I have learned on my Journey to Personal Growth

Personal growth is the most important thing we can focus on in our lives. Each and every day I take time out for myself to Meditate, visualize and/or contemplate my contribution to the reality I undoubtedly create. This practice is by far the most rewarding aspect of my daily activities. I absorb as much information as I possibly can each day and amazingly, I still feel I have not even scratched the surface of my understanding of this thing we call “life”

I remember hearing the great Jim Rohn talk about working harder on yourself than you do on your job, and in fact, he couldn’t be any more right with that statement. When we consciously make the effort to work harder on our own personal growth, then everything else in our lives becomes that much easier and pleasant. I think it’s important to point out that personal growth is supposed to be a joy, and never a arduous task, after all, life is a journey meant to be experienced to the fullest, so it makes perfect sense that each moment is wasted if we do not consciously appreciate it.

I have gotten into the habit of writing out some of the insights into personal and spiritual growth I have been so fortunate to be introduced to over the years. So, keeping that in mind, I would humbly like to share 5 lessons I have learned on my journey thus far.

Here goes…

1… What’s important to you
Okay…you’re lying on your death-bed, you have a couple of minutes left to live. How many of the things in your life that made you worry, made you stressed, made you angry, made your life unpleasant…really bloody matter? I would imagine that very little of most of the stuff we place significance on in our lives in this present moment will matter too much at all. There are only a few things in your life that are truly important, Stop fussing over non trivial matters and start focusing on what’s really important to you.

2… An Optimists view
How often do we react in a negative way to life’s obstacles even though they are an integral part of life. It’s not as if we expect everything to go smoothly for us all the time. Besides, a life without problems would not be as fruitful. We can appreciate the good times only through contrast with the bad. Take a step back and see that whenever a bad situation arises there is always an equally good seed hidden within. You can always learn something valuable from life’s problems if you detach yourself from the negative and focus on the lesson you can take away. Realize that life is exactly what it is meant to be. There’s no good or bad, there’s just lessons to be learned. Obstacles encountered on your journey through life are opportunities for you to grow.

3… Daily Goal setting
If you would like to have a much more productive week or a bit more motivation to get more things done, why not write out a few goals every night before you go to bed for the next day’s completion. These only have to be small goals, like returning an email or a phone call to a friend you keep putting off, maybe set a goal to work out each day. The point here is to give you a personal understanding of how powerful it is to have any goals no matter how big or small, in writing.

As you finish each goal, cross it off the list and you will feel a lot better for completing it. When I started doing this a while back I wrote down 10 small goals each night and set out to complete each one in turn the next day. I was greatly surprised by how simple, yet powerful this practice is. It is amazing how much more productive each day becomes just by doing this simple process. There’s something really powerful in writing things down, getting them out of your head and onto paper. Try it for one week and you will see for yourself…remember, even though the goals are small, the accumulation of them all over the course of one week really does add up.

4… Life is beautiful
Life is always showing you what you ask (think) it to show you. All the beauty you will ever need to brighten up your day, week, month, year and life is already here. Everything is right under your nose but you may not be able to see it because your thoughts are obstructing your mind. Choose to cultivate thoughts that benefit your growth by appreciating the things in your life that you take for granted.
Delight in the beauty that surrounds you today, You will be doing yourself a grave injustice to ignore this advice. When we think we “need” more, then that’s exactly what our mind looks for, it looks for more, it looks past what we have already, in this moment and focuses on what we don’t have…this is where we make the biggest mistakes in our lives.

Think about it…how often do we hear people say the same thing, “you don’t know what you’ve had until it’s gone” what you really need may very well be the thing you already have but cannot see this because your mind is looking for something else. There’s no problem with “wanting more” unless it takes away from what you have “right now”. Have yourself a wonderful day and fully appreciate everything that you already have in your life.

5… We live in Two worlds
We live in our inner world, and our outer world. The problem for most people is that they allow their outer world to control their lives and are constantly reacting to what they perceive every day. If you understand this law then you will realize that our reality is largely determined by how we cultivate and control our inner world. Inner (cause) Outer (effect)

Because these two worlds are connected, it stands to reason that each one has an effect on the other. If you have never worked on yourself or if you have never taken the time to observe how you act and react to outside stimuli, then you will be largely affected by the outside world. It is widely known that our reality is created in the mind, so it is imperative that we stop reacting to what happens outside of ourselves and start to grasp the whole concept of influence created by both.

Two people can be looking at the exact same thing in the outer world and yet have a different reaction. This is all the proof you should need to help you understand that it is your inner world that creates how you see things and not the other way round. Take some time to contemplate this law and ask yourself which world has the greater influence on your reality.

I really hope you enjoyed this post today and I hope there was at least one positive thing for you to take away from it. There’s just one more thing I would like to say before I go and it is this…

The more positive the information you feed your mind…the more positive your attitude will become.
The more positive your attitude becomes…the better choices you begin to make.
The better choices you begin to make…the better outcomes you begin to develop.
The better outcomes that begin to develop…the more fulfilled you will become.
The more fulfilled you become…the better your self-image becomes.

It’s like a domino effect but you have to consciously make it work. The results do not manifest straight away, but the seed has to be planted in order to sow what you desire.
Have yourself a wonderful day today as you are the one who ultimately makes that decision to do so.