Different people develop through different kinds of experiences. This section explores some experiences that may enable people to grow.
Enjoyable Experiences
People love to do what they enjoy in their lives and work. They may enjoy playing, exercising, creating, exploring or doing other things they feed their soul.
What do you enjoy doing? How can you do more of these things in the future? How can you encourage others to do what they enjoy? What may be the benefits of doing these things?
Encouraging Experiences
People often grow by getting encouragement. Some individuals who are dyslexic or have different ways of operating often mention encouragers who helped them to develop.
People can also grow by giving others encouragement. They may get a helper’s high and find that the giver gets as much as the receiver. Some people simply want to give and help others to succeed.
Where do you get encouragement? Who are the encouragers in your life? How can you do more things the give you encouragement? How can you encourage other people? What will be the benefits of doing these things?
Educational Experiences
Many people love to learn. They love to explore, gather knowledge and discover how things work. They enjoy adding ideas, models and tools to their resources for shaping the future.
What are the things you love to learn about? How can you continue to learn and grow? When appropriate, how can you help others to learn? What will be the benefits of taking these steps?
Enlightening Experiences
People can continue to educate themselves. Sometimes they may go further and have experiences that are enlightening. They may see life in a different way or have a creative breakthrough that enables them to shape their future.
When have you had such experiences? What happened that helped to create such breakthroughs? What did you do as a result? If appropriate, how can you increase the possibility of having enlightening experiences in the future?
Extreme Experiences
People sometimes grow through having extreme experiences. Sometimes these can be exhilarating, sometimes they can be challenging. People sometimes deliberately seek or create such experiences. These may fall into the following categories.
Emotional Experiences
Some people grow through extreme emotional experiences. These may be positive – such as joy, happiness or exhilaration. Some may also be more challenging – such as pain, unhappiness or grief.
Some people actually like to put themselves in situations where they experience extreme emotions. They may enjoy getting adrenaline highs or other feelings.
Some extreme emotions come out of the blue when we find ourselves affected by events beyond our control. Life can bring accidents, disappointments and grief.
Different people deal with such extreme emotions in different ways. The way they choose to respond can often depend on their repertoire of skills for dealing with such situations.
Exploratory Experiences
Some people aim to develop by exploring extreme experiences. They may choose to stretch themselves by focusing on certain kinds of adventures, sensations or challenges.
Some do this by pursuing activities where they feel fully alive. They may love living on the edge, climbing mountains, sailing the oceans or doing other things they find exhilarating.
Some aim to explore sensations by taking drugs or experimenting in other ways. These activities may give them certain highs but may also have potentially harmful effects.
Existential Experiences
Some people encounter existentially challenging situations. They may experience grief, trauma or life-threatening events that shock them to their core.
Some people may feel paralysed. Some may go through a range of emotions. Some may eventually be proactive and do their best to manage the situation.
Some individuals recall how they developed as a result of the existentially challenging experience. The problems may have seemed overwhelming at the time. Looking back in later years, however, they realise how they grew from managing the potentially life-changing situation.
Let’s return to your own life. How can you develop in your own way through having experiences? These could be enjoyable, encouraging, educational, enlightening or extreme experiences.
What is the kinds of experience you would like to focus on? How can you pursue this kind of experience? What may happen as a result of taking these steps?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
Leave a Reply