Tips for personal growth
Your inner self is in a state of perpetual change. Every day you can decide how you want to live and what brings you joy and fulfilment. We can constantly rediscover ourselves and change who we are. But how can you actually go about doing this? And is it really necessary to change?
The wonderful thing is that when you focus on your own well-being and pay attention to your own needs and wishes, personal growth often happens by itself. Well-being can mean something different to each individual and can change from one day to the next or even hour by hour.
Personal growth can take place on many different levels: mental, spiritual and creative, as well as in relation to others or to yourself. All the different levels depend on each other. An important part of our growth is the ability to consciously observe and reflect on our behaviour, especially when we are confronted with difficult or unexpected situations. If we take time to consider our reactions in the past and to learn from our mistakes, we can even surpass ourselves. Reaktionen zu überdenken und aus unseren Fehlern zu lernen, können wir sogar über uns hinauswachsen.
As with meditation and yoga, every moment, every breath and every movement count when it comes to finding your own personal balance. This balance will bring you happiness and contentment. In yoga, the term “Santosha” can be translated as “complete contentment”. Achieving this is of course an ambitious objective, but there are certain questions and inspirations that may help bring you closer.
Our tips for personal growth:
1. Pause.
Everyday life is full of inspiration and wisdoms that can be incorporated into your own life. If you stay mindful and open to the little things and people around you, you can gain a new perspective and be in a position to understand yourself better. Always be considerate and attentive and you will see that the things you are surrounded by can be a source of inspiration. If you find yourself in a challenging situation, you can pause for a moment and ask yourself what you can learn from this situation. Can you eliminate the problem? If not, how can you change the situation so that it becomes less difficult for you, or how can you look at it in a different way?
2. Accept yourself.
You are just fine as you are! It's not about becoming someone different, but more about seeing yourself in a better way so that you feel better about yourself and about getting rid of all the things that are not doing you any good. When you go to bed at night, ask yourself what has made you happy today. What has preoccupied you today and what has made you laugh?
If we concentrate on making small but meaningful steps in the right direction every day, we can slowly but surely move towards achieving our goals.
3. Be good to yourself.
How you talk to yourself has a major effect on your self-acceptance and how you perceive yourself. All too often we compare ourselves to others and become self-critical or limit ourselves. One exercise that can help with this is replacing negative sentences with positive affirmations:
Instead of saying “I didn’t manage it and I blame myself,” say “I’m proud of myself because I tried and I was brave.”
Instead of “It was a big mistake,” say “I learned a lot from it.”
Instead of “I must give up,” try “I’ll try again using a different strategy.” “It’s too difficult” becomes “It will take a little time and effort”.
The journey is the goal
As you can see, the journey towards a contented self is a road that features many different thoughts and experiences and to which you should devote some time. Each person makes this journey in their own way. Just because you have a certain goal that lies in the future, it doesn’t mean that the Here and Now isn’t just as wonderful. If you would like to find out more about well-being, why not take a look at our Mindfulness page.
