Personal growth is a lifelong pursuit to understand a person’s true higher self and their true purpose in life. When we stop growing, we die. We need to continuously develop intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. We grow and change physically as we develop from infancy to adulthood and old age. We grow and change emotionally with every experience, and we grow intellectually as we respond to events and to the world around us. Anything that you want to remain in your life – your money, your health, your relationship, your happiness, love – must be cultivated, developed, and expanded. Otherwise, it will degenerate. Some people satisfy the need to grow by working out physically or by reading books. Others need to study and learn constantly in order to feel that they are truly growing

Growth is about personal investment in a person’s self and improving his or her skill set in order to manage life effectively and provide value to the community. Personal development allows a person to be proactive. Setting goals that are time sensitive causes a person to achieve their dreams in life. Luck happens when hard work meets opportunity. An individual is not born lucky but rather possesses the habit of personal development, continuously learning new skills to achieve the desired result in life. Truthfully, a person may not always achieve their vision in life, but he or she will experience a richer and more rewarding life when dedicated to regularly pursuing new goals and learning new skills. Making that commitment to personal development is the first step on the path to personal fulfillment.

Personal development is not achieved overnight and requires continuous effort and appreciation. With renewed self-confidence and the desire to seek more knowledge, you can hone your skills and become a successful individual, whether in your personal sphere or your professional life. With the right life skills, you can improve the understanding of who you are, achieve satisfaction, and live your life with awareness. May all beings be happy and free and may all our words thoughts and action contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.

Here are a few Personal Growth Tips

1. Find your why. Your why is the purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do. It is the thing that motivates you to get up every morning and work a little harder to get a little better. It is the thing that motivates you to get up every morning and work a little harder to get a little better
2. Find inspiration in others. Build relationships with role models or other successful people. Remember that you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with, so build relationships with leaders in your community and model your behavior after these thought leaders. Recognize in yourself the strengths you see in other people
3. Develop the habit of practice. The reality is that excellence and greatness cannot be achieved without hours and hours of practice and hard work. There are no exceptions to this rule. None. Personal growth and learning new skills is like physical strength, is something that develops slowly, almost unconsciously over time, given the right stimulus.

Part of the practice of living life on Purpose is coming to terms with the truth there will always be high points and low points in life. Change is inevitable in the material world, with periods of great joy and happiness one moment and, at other times, unfortunate sorrow and undue stress. How then, does a person find peace in a world of highs and lows?

The natural state of a persons’ life is, by nature, beautiful, filled with love, great compassion, joy, and happiness, with periods of suffering and adversity. However, as a society, rather than focusing on all the good in life, people more often than not, concentrate on their individual periods of hardship and suffering and spread a message of chaos and discord. Whether it’s the increasing cost of health care, the state of the world economy, the most recent crime headline, or the horrors of culture conflicts resulting in war, focusing on these negative viewpoints leads a person to feel stressed and angered.

How does a person deal with difficult situations and emotions? What does he or she do to cultivate a sense of well-being and peace for himself or herself? Whether a person is overwhelmed by the horror of the most recent news headlines, dealing with the recent loss of a loved one, or has no way to pay the mortgage or rent this month, crisis takes many forms. Its impact is felt deeply. A person feels helpless, sad, and overwhelmed. Stress, anger, disappointment — these are parts of life, just like happiness, calmness, and laughter.

An individual’s true nature is Sat-Chit-Ananda, all knowing, eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. Every person ultimately wants to live a peaceful life, with the ability to prosper and grow as a person. The challenge is to overcome the limiting belief that external conflicts must be fought and won to earn peace on earth. True peace results when a person takes steps towards understanding their inner self. To do this, a person must study the areas of their life they least want to address, the burning and entangled battles within and the repeated negative behavioral patterns that lead to unnecessary suffering and conflict. To find peace is to know a person’s true and best self.

How do you find inner peace? The first step is to become conscious that the world may be wayward and mostly out of a persons’ control. It is a person’s choice to be at peace and find harmony in life. The secret to peace is for an individual to be content with his or her lot in life. A person must remove the habit of blaming others for their hardship and blaming external factors in life, but take responsibility for themselves and find joy in who he or she is in life.

Living life in the modern material world can be busy, hectic, and sometimes overwhelming. It might feel impossible to bring a little more inner peace and awareness into your life. Take small, incremental steps to change your life, and over time, you will see big rewards and discover your true life’s purpose and happiness. May all beings be happy and free, and may all our thoughts, words, and actions bring happiness and some freedom to all.

1. Know your ideal self. Start by making a list of all the good qualities you intend to cultivate.
2. Do your best in every situation. Be aware of the truth that how you do one thing in life is how you do everything else in life. Do not accept mediocrity by doing only 80% of your ability, but do everything at 100% and let go of the outcome.
3. Ask for Forgiveness. Correct your mistakes as soon as possible, and you can find peace of mind in the fact you have improved upon your actions and done your part to relieve any ill feeling or guilt.
4. Practice patience. Other people around you may not be living as you have chosen to. Respond in a way that will give you peace of mind. Take a deep breath before reacting to people who push your buttons.
5. Validate yourself. You will not get to feel that lovely sense of peace if you don’t take the time to acknowledge it. Celebrate all your victories in life.

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” – Arthur Ashe

Practicing mindfulness is a simple self-improvement technique, but complicated and difficult to execute while living a modern day-to-day life. A simple method for practicing mindfulness or self-awareness is for a person to realize that how they do one thing in life is how they carry out every other action.

It is more valuable for an individual to understand their behavior patterns, rather than the person focusing solely on achieving a set of goals without conscious awareness: the process of mindful living naturally leads a person towards accomplishing their goals. A mindful person understands that if they are going to do something, it should be performed to the best of their ability.

More often than not, and due to modern pressures, a person is compelled to complete a task to 80% of their ability to get the project done and stop working when it is sufficient. However, by sacrificing their integrity in order to keep up with the fast pace of modern life, cutting corners, and not performing to the best of their ability, an individual begins to develop the habit of laziness and mediocrity. By accepting mediocrity in one area of life, a person accepts mediocrity in all other areas of life. Mindful living is practiced when a person does their best without being a perfectionist.

For individuals who are consistently late with deadlines at work and have the habit of not paying close attention to details, chances are these characteristics are seen in their personal life and relationships. People who often find themselves having conflict with friends and family will probably discover that there is strife in other areas of life.

A mindful person who realizes that how they do one thing in life is how they carry out all other actions, wakes up every morning ready to kick life in the ass, regardless of what they are faced with each day. Mindful people approach every challenge as the most important thing. They talk to each person as if they were the most important person. Treat each client as if they were your most important client.

Maybe if you begin to practice mindful living with the understanding that if you are going to do something, it should be performed to the best of your ability, you will begin to live your dream life. May all beings be happy and free, and may all our thoughts, words and actions contribute in some way to the happiness and freedom of all.

Have you ever, established lofty goals with the best intentions, and then discover two months later, that you have not achieved one new aspiration for the year? While living your life, going through your daily routine do you find yourself, exhausted with little or no energy to achieve your dreams and reach your highest best version of yourself?

Exhaustion is the by-product of exceeding a person’s capacity for emotional stress. Most individual experience exhaustion, even when we’re not aware that we’ve depleted our emotional reserves. Experience suggests most people feel completely alone, but every person in the modern world has pushed themselves to states of exhaustion. Persons liken themselves to others through social media and use clichés’ like “Being super busy” as a status symbol.

It is important to notice these signs of emotional exhaustion to avoid further interpersonal, work, school, or other social and spiritual problems. It is important to notice the signs of exhaustion to prevent unnecessary physical or emotional hardship. When a persons’ bucket is full, it is easier to find grace in the day, to find pleasure in the days ahead and manage the trials in life.

When a person’s bucket is empty, it is more problematic to cope with the obstacles that arise while living in the material world. Perhaps the most important thing an individual can do to live a mindful and spiritual life is to maintain his or her emotional bucket.

Energy is a person’s capacity to work in the material and contribute to the betterment of all beings. When a person is on a spiritual quest in this chaotic material world, and he or she is having a crisis of consciousness about his or her ability to face their inner demons and greatest life fears, where should he or she turn? A person has the best of intentions when it comes to connecting with the divine, yet more often than not a person seems to be unable to meet his or her expectations in life.

The purpose in life is to know and understand the inner self; a person’s life mission, values, vision of how to live mindfully and spiritually, and discovering true fulfillment. Knowing a person’s true self requires a high level of introspection and self-awareness.

By maintaining and continuing to fill a person’s spiritual and emotional bucket it becomes easier to find clarity to at least half of what is listed above. At the same time, the process of discovery never ends – it’s a life-long journey.

It’s often difficult to be attentive to a person’s emotional and spiritual bucket because he or she is often too tired and too disconnected to care. By being aware of our mind and body, we can detect the signs of emotional exhaustion early and work on ways to avoid a total breakdown.

If we pass the point of no return and we hit our stress peak, we have the opportunity to recover and start again. We can empty our emotional tanks of negativity and begin filling them with the things that matter most in life.

Here are a few Suggestions to help you restore, renew and refill your emotional and spiritual bucket:

1. Get active rest: Rest is a required and is a basic human need.
2. Check your Emotional State: A negative attitude that keeps you focused on everything wrong in life, and that is consistently looking for future problems, is a huge energy drain.
3. Make time for Fun. Fun takes away restrictions and eliminates deadlines and stretches your muscles like nothing else.
4. Find a touch of nature. No matter where we are, adding a little bit of nature to our day can awaken our creative cells like nothing else—even a strong cup of coffee.
5. Meditate Daily
6. Spend time with other People that Fill our Buckets and Bring out the best version of ourselves
7. Spend time in Gratitude being thankful

In a culture where success is praised above all other qualities of life, it is easy for a person to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of climbing the achievement ladder, forgetting to take a moment to give thanks for all he or she has accomplished and to those individuals who have helped along the way.

People tend to take for granted the good that is already present in their lives and have the habit of comparing oneself to other peoples’ success. By practicing gratitude and taking a moment to appreciate what has been achieved, a person gradually shifts their focus from what is missing in life to an awareness of abundance that is already present

Folks who practice gratefulness daily experience more positive emotions; have improved sleep; express more compassion and kindness towards other people and other beings; have stronger robust immune systems; and have less day-to-day stress.

By taking the time each morning and evening to sit and reflect on what a person is grateful for in life boosts a person’s overall well-being. Rather than becoming resentful towards people who have more money or better jobs – which is a major factor in reduced self-esteem – grateful people can appreciate other peoples’ accomplishments.

Gratitude provides a person with the instruments to live a simpler and happier life. A person who is grateful for the things they own will waste less energy seeking more stuff thereby creating feelings of copiousness. Gratitude gives a person the experience to find fulfillment in the treasures he or she already possesses rather than looking outside themselves for contentment.

Gratitude allows a person to be happy for what he or she has in life. When a person shifts awareness towards gratefulness, he or she will begin to have a higher frequency of appreciation for the simple pleasures of what a person has accomplished. Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but rather practiced regularly.

Start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful. In this way, you’ll be on your way toward becoming a master of gratitude. May all beings be happy and free, may all our thoughts words and actions contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.