3 Growth

Experiences – Identity

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory (1931) Our experiences, coupled with our innate make-up, make us what we are. We form self-conceptions, which we call identity. Sometimes these are enabling but sometimes they are constricting and destructive in a variety of ways. Early childhood experiences, in particular, are important parts
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Environment

Our environment consists of everything external to the self that affects us in any way: the physical world as well as other living organisms, including people, and all the social, political, economic and other organizational systems that surround us. As with the body, the environment is both an opening and
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Physical Systems

I arise early in the morning to work on this project. For a few hours, I am at my peak. Then, after a few hours thinking about the subject matter of these pages, my mind is no longer as fresh as it was earlier in the day. My organic brain
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Habits – Attitudes

Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits. [Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), Chapter 15.] We have explored the value of good habits (actions) but we also know, from experience and observation, that people have bad habits as well as good one. An attitude, which expresses what
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Beliefs – Convictions

People have believed things with utter conviction – a combination of thought and action – and been consummately wrong. A conviction brings a creative power that is not present in a mere belief. But if the conviction is not in harmony with reality or with desirable ends, the result can
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Values – Expectations

“. . . twichin’ like a finger on the trigger of a gun.” [Paul Simon, “My Little Town”] Salvador Dali, The Enigma of Desire, or My Mother, My Mother, My Mother (1929) An ethical and moral life necessarily is built on values (grounded in emotion), which guide us in the
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Think, Feel, Act (week of obstacles and opportunities)

Yesterday we celebrated the value of expanding our boundaries and extending our reach. This week, we will examine the impediments that many, perhaps all of us face in that undertaking. We perceive and evaluate the world through the tiny lens of our imperfect eyes and minds. Our thoughts enable us
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Blossoming – Expanding Horizons – Extending Reach

Having assimilated the techniques and methods of responsibility, the curious soul seeks to know more, do more and feel more deeply. If you are curious about what your life might become, and eager to find out, then you are in the process of expanding your boundaries and extending your reach.
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Play and Playfulness

Play is the waking equivalent and active counterpart of a dream; the creative and cathartic activity of non-work. As a dream cleanses the soul, play refreshes the spirit. So much the better when it is done playfully.
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Novelty

I am half inclined to think we are all ghosts, Mr. Manders. It is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They
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