Lockdown Growth.

This situation has provided an opportunity for many to reflect and address areas of personal growth.

I have identified 5 major themes that align with personal growth I wish to share, in hopes that you, the reader will find this of value.

1. Negative and positive cycles.

Growth is in a state of constant flow. Like the tides of the ocean, moving in and out. This flow yields positive and negative cycles, something Eckhart Tolle discusses in “The Power of now”. Eckhart explains these cycles to ebb and flow and as a subsequent result allowing our subconscious mind to wander, dismantling our control and placing our life in a continual cycle of highs and lows. While Eckhart explains the need for people to achieve mastery of our subconscious and to be in the ‘Now’, to avoid being reactive to every single piece of news we receive. I will be the first to admit this is no small task. When we begin to be aware of our shortcomings and our lack of true control, we start our journey to avoid constant waves of emotion and being caught in a rip.

This short video from an Alan Watts lecture highlights how difficult it is to understand what may be inherently good or bad — positive or negative.

2. Precision or spread?

While journeying to find where our passions thrive, to seek growth on a ladder invisible to others. Perhaps we may consider planning out our entire approach to achieve greatness. Our attempt at precision to account for every deadline or barrier that will inevitably try to halt our progress. Perhaps as if we were trying to precisely jot the exact steps to take for a safe path through unchartered territory. If growth is something that flows, how realistic is it for a person to plan out every variable? While the answer may seem obvious, we can all be guilty of this.

Perhaps reflect on areas where you have tried to be precise to achieve a goal.

Was it realistic? did you actually achieve your goal?

If you did, was it following the exact steps and variables you had planned would occur?

Personally, the times where I have tried to be precise to achieve a goal the outcome has always come at a cost. A rigidity in perspective occurs where we may be so invested in the goal that we take no notice of our environment and what may be occurring around us. Resulting in; an increase of stress, loss of control of our mind and being in the present moment. I believe when trying to utilise precision an inverse relationship can occur, the longer the prerequisite time for a goal the less accurate your precision will be. So perhaps the method we could consider is one with a little more ‘spread’.

When approaching an obstacle, or planning ahead the person who has considered a variety of outcomes and has wide-ranging experience will have the advantage. A spread of experiences and education increases our ability in being able to adapt to change OR adapt for change. With spread we learn to understand there may be a variety of paths that result in the same outcome, this can open peoples perspective in taking risks or learning to see the advantage of there predicament. What may have initially presented as an obstacle on our journey may become the thing actually propelling us forward. The insight an approach governed by spread will be a more holistic approach to success.

If we were stuck in our ways and precise about everything it may be very difficult to overcome these obstacles, however, if we are unable to stick to a plan or demand ourselves to uphold a certain level of expectations. We shall see little improvement, constantly comprising and eventually changing our journey to a point where it veers from our choice of destination.

3. What are your pillars?

For personal growth, I believe it to be essential to have pillars to place upon our foundation. Repeating an essential refining process, these pillars change as we continue to improve. The more pillars we have, the less time we can spend on each one. However, a foundation with too few pillars can be unstable compromising our potential.

My three pillars are physical, mental, and spiritual health.

From my experience as a student of Occupational Therapy, a holistic approach is a part of my mantra now. When approaching these pillars there are so many factors that can affect it. My experiences have taught me a sustainable approach will yield longterm benefits. A form of regular exercise, governed with good food choices and enjoying discretional treats occasionally is sustainable for me. I mean how can you say no to Gelato?

The advice I have received from experts in a variety of fields has always had some consistency to it. Briefly summed up, the advice attributes a strong message to ensure that your own mental health and wellbeing is accounted for prior to trying to assist others. Essentially, you cant fetch water from a depleted well. Look after yourself first and foremost, it’s not selfish it’s essential and practical.

Spiritual health, something that everyone views in a different light. Regardless of your beliefs, being in-tune with your values and ensuring that you hold yourself accountable to your belief system will create the path of least resistance. A necessity when pursuing personal growth, typically a process that involves two steps forward and one step back.

4. The Unknown?

Throughout any process, there will be moments in time where we are required to step forward towards a challenge. This may be a challenge or task we are to expect or perhaps aware of prior to engaging in our “journey”. The unknown is about the challenges we did not expect or account for.

Life is full of what may seemingly be inconsistencies and variables that we have not accounted for. However, accounted for or not they change our course of action potentially forcing us to make difficult decisions. So how can we prepare for the unknown?

Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule, its just the nature of it. The sooner people are able to accept the reality of how very little we have control over unknowns we encounter, the better people will be receiving, processing, and accounting for them. It would require someone to live a very sheltered life to avoid encountering these experiences. The cost of living like this? Experiencing life for what it truly is.

Author Ryan Holiday presents Stoic and Buddist philosophy in “Stillness is the key”. The idea of ‘stillness’. In essence, is to slow down and control our mind, spirit and body so we do not waiver during these external battles. Identifying the best practice to remain ‘still’ is to control our response and reactivity to these unknown or difficult situations. This facilitates an opportunity to move forward with a sense of clarity and a deeper understanding of our purpose.

5. Harness Habitual Change!

If we are able to harness habits that employ slow habitual change, we can yield a positive result from a compounding effect that occurs, however something that I have realised upon reflection is that these habitual changes we make as humans to improve our pillars won’t yield the results we think they will.

What I mean by this is, when we focus on the day to day and try to stay in the present moment, it may be very difficult to look outward. Only when taking a step back to observe ourselves at a distance can we see this graph of personal growth we endeavour to make progress in. It is not a linear process, it is not black and white, perhaps there is no evident contrast between growth and failure, perhaps they are related, or are indeed intertwined. To be able to win we must be willing to lose, you must be committed and present with the obstacle dead ahead. Cultivating this mindset sheds light to understand that the negatives we experience yield a greater opportunity for us to grow.

Yet it can’t be all one-sided, we must experience winning, success, and improvement or how else shall we know that we have truly learnt from our experiences with ‘loss’. We can’t have one without the other. Personal growth is personal, not every day is a win, but not every day considered a loss.

As we look upon our personal growth through the correct lens we can hope to see an upwards trend, maybe a decrease since yesterday or the day before, however a vast improvement from a year ago. Rome wasn’t built in a day, there were mistakes in the process. However, it still stands to this day. This perspective holds me accountable yet allows the understanding of failures.

So with your experience of lockdown during this pandemic what pillars have you focused on?

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