PERSONAL GROWTH FEARS

Some of the problems people face today are life threatening. They create fears in your life. They make you believe you cannot do anything about job losses, the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, and rising gasoline and food prices. The words self-reliance and personal responsibility are hollow sounds in a discordant symphony of life's mythical chants of self-help.

Whenever I hear one of the gurus tell someone they have the power to solve their own problems, I wonder if the individuals listening believe they have this power.

It seems incredulous that someone mired in victim beliefs -- unemployment, inadequate education, social and physical addictions, and the unwillingness to accept responsibility for having created the problems in the first place -- will suddenly, without guidance, believe they have the power to solve their own problems.

It seems more plausible to believe that if they had the power to solve the problems, they would already have solved them. There's obviously more to change than just telling someone about their undiscovered power. There are some steps that one must take to reach a point in one's life where you are comfortable with accepting personal responsibility and self-reliance as a philosophy for changing your life.

The meat and potatoes of any philosophy is believability. For many people, the solution to their financial problems is to make more money. The lack of money drives people to do drastic things to stay afloat in a sea of debt. After much strife, they are willing to pursue just about anything to overcome the pains of failure, the shame and embarrassment of losing their homes, and the sheer pressure of finding the strength to continue their lives in a cesspool of sleepless nights.

Whenever someone thinks they have become victimized by their circumstances, the mind automatically searches for the easiest, and less stressful solution to their problems. We train our minds to search for solutions we have used over and over in our lives. These are the solutions that cause us pain and discomfort. Nevertheless, we consider them to be workable solutions. Not withstanding, they caused the problems in the first place.

Similarly, that's why so many victimized individuals seek refuge in books, tapes, and a host of other audio-visual tools. They search for guidance from someone who has had similar problems and who was able to overcome them. This is the point in time when they are ready to make the decision to begin their personal growth training.

Personal growth training is a good way to address the issues in your life that cause you to think of yourself as a victim, or a powerless person. This type of training allows you to clearly identify why you feel stuck in the miasma of failure and suffering. You can use the personal growth techniques to go from a procrastinator to a person of action.

I am a personal growth trainer because I am able to contribute to making the world a better place for all of us to live. This type of work allows me to continue to work on myself and also share with others the techniques that help me to accept responsibility for the conditions in my life and take the actions to solve my own problems.

What is personal growth?
Personal growth is a way of life. It is a commitment you make to yourself to embrace personal responsibility and self-reliance as the cornerstone of change. It begins with the idea or desire to change. It expresses itself in your life when you accept that you have the power to change the way you are currently living.

What are some key aspects of personal growth?
1. Accept responsibility for your current problems and challenges.
2. Believe that you have the power to change your current situation.
3. Develop a plan of action based on a vision of yourself with power.
4. Use this plan to make the necessary decisions to overcome your problems.
5. Include in your plan a blueprint to clear your mind of the attachments and distractions that keep you tied to victim beliefs.
6. Evaluate your personal relationships with family, friends, and coworkers.
7. Evaluate your life's ambitions to determine if they will allow you to achieve the happiness and fulfillment that you seek for yourself.
8. Commit yourself to living in a clean, social friendly, and loving home environment.
9. Refrain from gossip and disparaging remarks about others as well as yourself.
10. Place your attention on being the person that is awake and alert to everything that is going on in your life.

There are many other aspects to personal growth; however, each aspect requires you to take the action to change the way you think about yourself and others.

Please remember: To trust yourself is to trust someone who knows you well. (MK)