PERSONAL GROWTH IS A JOURNEY TO KNOWING THE SELF

We are surrounded today by a chaotic world which pulsates at a mind-boggling pace. Our stress level increases daily. To handle the stimulation overload and to keep a pace with time-which slips away nonetheless-we create appearances that we hide behind. The more vulnerable we are, the thicker the bricks we use to build this wall of appearances. The walls keep rising. People become alien to themselves. We become inefficient, unaffectionate, depleted.
Muddied Waters
Yet we are like pure water at birth. As life goes on, our parents, adults, and the environment contaminate us. Worse still, we get used to this layer of mud; in time, we find it natural.
This is where Personal Growth becomes important. The aim of Personal Growth is to stop self-alienation. It is to return to our inner self: to learn about our inner world, the language of our feelings, and about the conditionings we have been subjected to until then; and-as we get to know ourselves-to find peace in ourselves; to become one with our thoughts, feelings and actions; to clear the waters again.
When this happens, when we stop deriving our power from something we are not-our appearances, and the roles we play-and become one with our nature; when our inner self reflects on the outside, we begin to utilize talents we had not been able to bring to life until then; we become more Powerful; Flexible; Effective; Free!
We stop entering into painful relationships of dependency. We begin to build relationships upon love and selectivity. Even though the confusion of daily life does not change, our reaction to it certainly does. External conditions lose their erosive nature. Even in the raging storm, the individual who is able to self-actualize knows how to navigate to the calm harbor with the inner peace he or she has found.
In short, personal growth aims for the person to return to the self (from which they have become alienated) and to live a balanced, effective, and fulfilling life.
Taken from: www.kuraldisi.com