BALANCING PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Have you ever met someone who is dedicated to their spiritual practice but is just not very nice?

It's a strange combination - they seem really spiritual; after all, they meditate every day, or they practice yoga really well, but they gossip, are mean, or just don’t have control over their anger, jealousy, or other negative emotions. That’s because they’ve focused on their spiritual development but ignored the rest of themselves.

When we think of well-being and what we can do to grow and evolve, we often choose a practice such as yoga or meditation.  And that’s great, but it’s not the whole picture.  We are multi-dimensional beings.  We exist and engage with the world on many dimensions, not just the physical. We also have a mental, emotional, spiritual, and interpersonal dimension.

In transpersonal psychology and positive psychology, we value the person as a whole. We don’t just focus on the emotions. We look at clients in a holistic way and try to help them bring all their dimensions into balance. For more on this find out about the wellness wheel or balance wheel exercise. After all, there’s no point in being able to hold your breath forever if you can’t get on with your housemates, right?

Your personal and spiritual growth and development should try to cover more than one dimension.  Of course, these streams of development all have a positive effect on each other, but it’s important not to prioritize one over all of the others. And we’ve all met people who do this; you can spot them a mile away.  They are the people who meditate every day or show off their five-minute headstand and then get up and start screaming or bitching at everyone around them.

Often, in the West, we prioritize the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions, but if we want to cultivate inner peace and live in a better world, we have to put some time into the emotional and interpersonal dimensions.  These two dimensions are very closely intertwined because it is our emotional dimension that dictates how we communicate with the people around us.  We can learn better interpersonal skills, but if we don’t work on our traumas and shadows, those skills will be limited.

So, how do we work on the emotional dimension and cultivate emotional maturity?  This, my friends, is the dimension we naturally steer away from because humans are hard-wired to avoid pain and seek out pleasure.  Cultivating emotional maturity necessitates revisiting those painful moments in our lives and integrating them in a healthy way so that we become whole and complete rather than hiding aspects of ourselves away.

Some ways of working with the emotional dimension include various talk and somatic therapies, transpersonal coaching or therapy, personal development coaching, art therapies, shadow work, family constellation work, psychedelic and entheogenic rituals, sweat lodges, and dark retreats.  But if you’re just starting out, getting a journal and using it is great for beginners. If you struggle to journal write I have a course just for you!

Wondering what some of these emotional dimension tools are? Don’t worry; I’ll be writing a lot more on this important dimension, so check back soon for a deeper dive into what it all means.

Thanks for reading, and as always, keep striving for growth and well-being, and never settle for less!

How I Can Help

I hope you found this blog post helpful and inspiring. If you have any questions or need further guidance, please don't hesitate to reach out. As someone who’s deeply passionate about well-being and personal growth and development, I offer services designed to help you cultivate a life you love. Whether through one-on-one sessions, workshops, or online resources, I’m here to support your journey towards becoming the best version of yourself.

Here’s to your well-being, personal growth and success!

Head over to the services section on my website for more information on how we can work together to achieve your goals. I work online and face to face on the Côte d’Azur, in France.