REFLECTION ABOUT PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

             For the past weeks I have been doing some serious self-search even though I reflect on myself continuously – but this time it has been different. Why?

                 It all begun when I realized that my goals, my aspirations, my personal development visions and my daily routines and experiences were in conflict. I did not feel satisfied with my current situation and the future sight of it. I also realized that I had started to lack energy in some of my core strengths: the positive and active attitude and the open-minded enthusiasm. It felt frustrating and exhausting. I wanted to do something about it and decided to buy a yellow cardboard and some colorful marker pens. I started to write down meaningful key words on the cardboard that were important to me, that in some way represented the life I wanted to live. It only took me a few minutes and suddenly I had an “artistic”  piece in front of me with meaningful key words and colorful symbols. It felt good to just write down words and to actually stop for a minute and ask yourself “what is meaningful to me?” and “how do I want to explore my journey of life?” I put the yellow cardboard on a wall in front of my bed and it is still the first thing I see when I wake up.

               The cardboard exercise felt good but it was not enough. I felt that I needed to dig deeper and to really reflect on and listen to myself. I received an email about an eight weeks long e-Learning coaching program and decided to participate. This is the fourth week. Every week I get new assignments about self-search and self-reflection. The coaching program insisted me to write down my want/don’t wants’ and to create a clear goal from these. Another exercise was about identifying your core strengths and to reflect on your values, what they mean to you and how they affect your everyday behavior etc. Meaning, some serious things that surely have an impact on your self-search and your personal development. But there was one question that truly made me think: “how do you treat yourself and do you truly listen to your inner voice and do you encourage yourself?”. The word “encourage” ringed a bell! Then I realized that I had been focusing so much energy on my surroundings that I had started to ignore myself – this was an insight that turned my ship around.

                 I started to focus on inner harmony and well-being and made some step-by-step goals to change the situational conflicts that affected my feelings. Now, the inner energy level has been obtained, the core strengths are blossoming and the self-reflection journey still continues – and step-by-step I strive to reach my goal.

                 Self-reflection or self-nurturing takes time and is usually the first thing you prioritize lowest on the list when being in a stressful or hasty situation. But the thing is that your personal development and your self-reflection are the keys to high energy levels and your own well-being – they are your survival methods. Give yourself some “me-time” and truly listen to yourself and reflect on yourself. Usually the experienced feelings interpret how you truly feel – like a mirror to your inner self. The most effective way for me has been to write down my thoughts and to focus on my well-being (e.g. drinking a lot of water and going to the gym for some other it might be to paint, to read, to run by the sea etc., find your own way how to give yourself some “me-time” and listen to yourself as you would listen to your best friend when they have some important things to say.

                    Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. The concept is not limited to self-help but includes formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.