When it comes to building a healthy family and providing a happy childhood for kids, it is highly important that you put emphasis on self-development or self-growth activities. This is particularly true when you’re working in families where every member of the family plays a crucial role in the family and is an integral part of the larger family. In families where is a close integration among all the members, any action or behavior of an individual can impact everyone else.
In this article, we will like to take a little time to discuss the four vital building blocks or foundations of any kind of self-growth or self-development endeavors. The four building blocks are compassion, communication, understanding, and commitment.
Change Is Difficult, But Not Impossible
Let’s be honest—change is never easy. Adapting to new things isn’t always smooth. When it comes to behavior, it is even more atrocious. This is why the four foundations which we enlisted above are so imperative for the overall growth and healthy development of individuals and families. In addition, we need to implement a system that systematically supports an individual’s efforts to change their lives.
Four Building Blocks for Self-Growth and Self-Development
Building Block 1: Compassion
The first building block is compassion. If you’re determined to make changes to any of your existing behaviors, the first and foremost step you should take is to take a deep look into yourself and acknowledge parts that you may not like. If there is something that you don’t like and be angry rather than rectifying it, then this will only exaggerate the situation. Acceptance and compassion for ourselves is the key to making any changes in your life and is much more effective. Compassion helps us to be aware of our inner selves, make us more humane, and prepares us to make a decision to try new and different attitudes or behaviors. In this world, if we want to endure, we need to grow up and learn how to be in the world, and acknowledge of we are as a person.
Having said that most of us, if given the choice, we all would like to have caring, passionate, and supportive relationships in our lives. But, there is a catch—we would only choose these when we face our shortcomings. We, humans, are frail beings. We have our soft spots. These are the venues inside our hearts where we feel our pains, our sorrows, our frailties, and our humanness. It is from these spots in which we allow ourselves to experience how others feel, connecting with others and to comprehend their fragileness and humanness. Being connected to our soft spots makes us compassionate with members of our families when they’re going to problems and when they’re going through bad times or behaving in destructive ways.
Every person wants the best for him or her, but may not have the idea to how to get it. Knowing that and connecting with them from that place instead of abandoning them or getting angry with them is the first step for you to start your journey towards change.
Building Block 2: Communication
Good communication isn’t only the key to build and nurture relationships, but it is the best way to connect to people and develop meaningful and long-lasting relationships with them. When we have conversations with others, many are more concerned about what they’ll say next instead of what they’ll be hearing. Many also don’t care much whether people around him or her understand anything they’re saying.
Communication is a “two-way” street. It is a series of monologues rather than one single dialogue. Usually, communication is more about getting one’s views or defending one’s opinions. It is often less about what someone else has to say.
Communication is also less about understanding who that person is or how they lead their lives. If you want to be more caring, understanding, and willing to change, it is essential that you learn to listen and understand more. Sure, no one said this is easy, but it is possible. It is possible to learn how to be more present when having a meaningful conversation with someone, whether the situation is good or bad. Stay in the present when you’re talking with someone and be less worried about the future.
Building Block 3 – Understanding
Effective communication is the precursor of understanding. Understanding has the power to change and transform us. Listening and having the need to know the world around from a different perspective without judgment provides us the chance to “envision” the world in ways we aren’t habituated before. By understanding a person when he or she is talking gives us the opportunity to see the world from the eyes of the person that we’re talking to.
We all have our own preferences and personal biases which can distort our understanding of the world around us. So, in order to know and understand the world more, we need to see and hear the perspectives of others. Going past of our assumptions and interpretations about someone else’s behavior, we do broaden our perspective and understanding and come in terms of agreements based on shared meaning and mutual understanding. By analyzing things from a different understanding and perspective, we can learn to trust others more, have new agreements, and find new and creative solutions to preexisting problems, and find a way to compromise and live with another individuals or groups. This will create fewer divisions and pave the way for new and shared perspectives that has the power to transform both parties and groups.
Building Block 4 – Commitment
Dealing with someone facing a crisis is extremely stressful. Making changes in your life or helping someone to make changes in their lives, especially difficult changes, is hard. In addition to hard work, the most important thing in making significant, meaningful changes in one’s life is commitment. You need to be extremely dedicated and committed to the cause, particularly when things are at their worse. If you aren’t committed enough, it’s tedious to implement all the necessary changes or actions day in and day out. Keep in mind, real change will only come when you’ve different attitudes, different perspectives, and different behaviors.
People going through changes are vulnerable and often confused about the outcomes and whether they can live with these changes. It’s helpful for you to ask for courage and motivation from people close to you if you’re going through these changes. It’s not easy for you to go through the day during the changes, but we can assure you that things will be worse if you don’t make the transition through the changes and the ramifications that will arise for not being committed to coping with it.
