Personal Development Articles

Here is my collection of articles on Personal Development. Click on the title of any article to read its complete text. Comments are always welcome.

The Personal Development Master List
Advice from Leonardo da Vinci - No matter what creative work I’m engaged in, I have found Leonardo’s advice to be imperative. Whether it is writing an essay, designing a website, or remodeling the house, getting away from the work, at least for a few hours, gives fresh perspective on it. The awkwardness of a sentence or the lack of symmetry in a design becomes obvious facts with the interval of a little time and distance.

Power - To explore how we can increase power in our lives I want to revisit a quote from Rumi: "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." These few words hold one of the greatest keys to unlocking the power that is within all of us: "Find all the barriers within yourself." Except for the barriers within, we are all the same. Each of us is part of an infinite shoreless ocean of consciousnenss. Each one of us is host to that same power that flows through the entire universe. It's our connection to the infinite. The only difference between the homeless derelict on skid row and the spiritual master of infinite consciousness is this: The master has no barriers erected within that block the power that radiates from him.

Personal Development Resources - I'm always lookining for new personal development resources and I just came across a couple good ones. Jarle Husefest of personaldevelopmentbooks.net/Blog is putting out some great content and resources like free ebooks and generating some serious traffic. Do yourself a favor and check out his site. I have really enjoyed reading his free download of The Master Key. Great wisdom in that book. Other sites sell it, but he gives it away. This is a book that inspired Napoleon Hill to success, a book that was banned by the Church, and that has been out of print until recently. In 2001 a rumor started that it was this very book that inspired Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard to pursue his vision of Microsoft. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know, but I do know that If I had read it while I was in college, I would have dropped out. There is nothing like solid confirmation that we live in an abundant universe.

Fearlessness and Compassion - Fearlessness and compassion are opposite sides of the same coin. When you contemplate what sets apart the fearless hero or heroine, whose lives are the epitome of compassion, you will see this clearly. I love the words of the late Chögyam Trungpa on this subject: Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others.

Music is the Best Therapy - Music is the best therapy that I know of for restoring the passion of my soul. I remember years ago, while in college, coming to the conclusion that listening to music increased my productivity. I started listening to music 24 hours a day. Well, except when I was in class, and that was hard. But I would sleep with music on, study with it, exercise with it, drive with it. I found that it increased my abilities as a saxophone player. My experience was that listening to music was as important as practicing. It filled my subconscious with musical ideas. But that was not the primary thing that happened.

Finding Meaning - I’ve been focused lately on the importance of finding meaning in life. With it comes a heightened aliveness. And today I came across these words of Albert Schweitzer from The Philosophy of Civilization: Only when we are able to attribute a real meaning to the world and to life shall we be able also to give ourselves to such action as will produce results of real value. As long as we look on our existence in the world as meaningless, there is no point whatever in desiring to effect anything in the world.

Social Intelligence in the Age of Digital Disconnect - Social intelligence impacts you even when you're not aware of it. You can walk into a room full of frowning people and consciously not even be aware of their expressions. But your brain picks it up and your emotional state is impacted. You inexplicably start feeling down. Or perhaps you have had a stranger make your day with just a few words of kindness. You might have been depressed for days and a few words changed it all. Words engender feelings and feelings are powerful. Feelings affect biological changes, affecting hormones, heart rate, circulation, breathing and the immune system. Interactions with others can have us feeling happy, confident and uplifted or sad, insecure and depleted.

Personal Development - Personal development is self-defeating if you attend to one dimension of yourself at the expense of another dimension. At best you will experience lopsided growth. At worse, you will become dysfunctional and obsessive.

Writing as Therapy - Guest Article by Maggie Butler -- Writing as therapy is a topic as close to my heart as it is possible to get unless you are the Love Doctor Himself -- or a heart surgeon. Believe me, I shudder as I write the word surgeon. Am I superstitious? You bet. Do words have power? Does the moon wax and wane?

Reincarnation Knowledge Complicates Things - Reincarnation knowledge has always fascinated me. This fascination became most intense 22 years ago when I had an overwhelming sense that I was home again when I arrived in India on my first trip there. The experience was so strong that it brought tears to my eyes. But what if I did have intimate details of past lives? Would it be beneficial to me? What are the pros and cons? There are some of each but it seems the negatives outweigh the positives.

One Degree Fahrenheit - One degree fahrenheit seems so little yet it means so much. Here are two looks at its significance. The first one, a film, looks at one degree as a metaphor for personal development. It might be just the motivation you need to reach your goals in the year ahead. But if an extra degree can make such a difference in your personal life as you strive towards your goals, what about the impact of one degree on our planet and global warming? If we can increase our effectiveness as human beings can we also rise up to meet the challenge of saving Mother Earth? We have to reduce Earth's average surface temperature one degree Fahrenheit. If we can achieve that goal of one degree we can reverse the havoc caused by global warming.

Hafiz and Emerson - Emerson on Hafiz: "He fears nothing. He sees too far, he sees throughout; such is the only man I wish to see and be." Seeing too far, as Emerson put it, means living in infinity. It means that although a drop of water might be having the experience of being merely a drop from the splashing of a wave, soon enough it will be united back to its original state of being--the Ocean.

Higher Level Functioning - Are you doing your best? If not, why not? Are you lazy? If so, why? Too much stress? What can ouy do about it? Are you inspired? If not, is it possible that you are not pursuing your true purpose in life? Tough questions, but they lead to deep introspection about how we live and think. When we do our best then there is nothing to worry about, because we have done everything we can do.