How Counseling Can Contribute To Your Personal Growth

Personal growth may be likened to self-growth. It refers to the process by which a person can recognize himself and strive for continuous development. With good personal growth, a person can achieve his full potential. There’s a sense of fulfillment in all facets of his life–from personal relationships to career.

If personal growth is your goal for this year, good for you! You can finish the year strong with a better version of yourself. Who knows, you may be able to achieve all the goals you’ve set. While there are many ways to achieve personal growth, one of the best is through counseling or therapy.

This article will help you understand what counseling is and how it can contribute to your personal growth.

It Acquaints You With Modes Of Self-Growth

Yes, you have that driving force to improve yourself and achieve personal growth. But, do you know precisely how to go about it? Or, perhaps there are specific challenges you’re going through in your life that make it hard for you to see or enjoy the benefits of growth.

Whatever those are, they can be discussed during counseling. Aside from helping you sort out the challenges that are holding you back, counseling sessions at Insight Northwest Counseling may empower you to take a proactive approach to self-growth.

With that said, here are some of the various strategies to have an outlet for release, leading to better self-growth:

• Meditation

With meditation, you may be able to relax your thoughts, sleep better, and improve your focus. Meditation uses techniques such as mindfulness, so you can learn about self-awareness as well.

• Writing In A Journal

It sounds so basic, but writing down your thoughts can actually help you find solutions to the problems you’re facing. And such issues may be hindering your capacity for self-growth.

Furthermore, journaling may help you relieve stress. You can consider your journal as a non-judgmental audience, allowing you to write down whatever it is that’s on your mind. You can freely confide in your journal things you’re afraid or embarrassed to talk about.

• Sharing Your Goals

Sharing your goals with your counselor creates a sense of accountability. This enables you to review your goals periodically and mark milestones, so you and your counselor can assess how close you are to making those goals a reality.

It Helps You Understand The Importance Of Self-Awareness

There’s no personal growth to speak of when your level of self-awareness is very low. You need to have a good sense of self-awareness to help yourself. This is another thing your counselor can help you with.

For example, you can discuss your personal triggers with the counselor during your counseling session. In turn, your counselor will help you tackle those triggers one by one by processing the underlying emotions. In time, you’d be able to deal with your triggers with less anxiety.

This newfound self-awareness is made possible with the therapist’s ability to guide you to your subconscious. Whatever skeletons you’ve kept in your mental closet are now out in the open and discussed. The more you keep them in your mind, the harder it is for you to grow. With counseling, you’re guided towards any dreams or passions you may have repressed – for whatever personal reasons.

It Presents You With An Opportunity For Self-Exploration

Allow yourself to give an honest answer to questions that explore your sense of self. Do you know who you really are? Or, in leading a busy life, have you lost yourself? Perhaps you’ve grown accustomed to pleasing significant people in your life that you’ve lost your identity? Were you once in an abusive relationship that has eroded your self-esteem and changed the way you look at yourself?

Those are examples of events in your life that may alter your sense of self. In fact, you may no longer be the person you used to be. If you’ve gone through vile events in your life – whether in the past or present – that changed your perception of who you are, it’s not too late to change the distorted perception.

With your counselor, you can gain a better understanding of your beliefs, personality, and values. This gives you a positive start to embark on a journey towards personal growth.

It Helps Improve Your Communication Skills

Personal growth covers all facets of development in your life, including career growth. When you aren’t happy where you are at the moment, there’s still room for you to do more in your job. This growth, however, takes a lot of work. It also involves working harder and better to improve your skills, so you can achieve more than you thought possible.

Did you know that you also improve your communication skills when you submit to counseling? This is particularly true for those who are introverts and those who have the tendency to keep things to themselves. Even people who used to be outspoken can become shy and withdrawn, as if they no longer have the confidence to talk to others.

Let your counselor help you with that, one session at a time. When you get accustomed to opening up and talking to your counselor, you may just notice a positive shift in your communication skills as well. This can help boost your career and bring personal growth for the following reasons:

• It makes it easier for you to build new friendships, both in and outside the workplace.
• It allows you to communicate with superiors with ease and less fear, especially when there are certain facets of your job that you find hard to understand.
• It improves the quality of your work performance.

It Reinforces The Idea That Personal Growth Is Linked To Self-Actualization

The mind is a very powerful tool. It can shape thoughts, both good and bad. Often, you have a higher chance of achieving what you think or perceive you can do. If your thoughts are consistently negative, then that negativity is going to rule over your life too.

Counselors will tell you that personal growth is actually linked to self-actualization or the tendency to achieve one’s potential and become the best version of oneself.

According to psychologist Carl Rogers, the environment conducive to personal growth is one where there’s genuineness (being open), acceptance (being seen with positive regard), and empathy (being understood). Without these core conditions, personal growth is hindered.

Consider the following examples:

• You’ve suffered a brutal loss in the past year. Unfortunately, instead of addressing that loss or grief fully, you chose to escape those feelings. You kept yourself busy with work in an attempt to brush off those emotions. This could be why you find it hard to empathize with others. Empathy is a core trait that you need to build good and lasting relationships with those around you.

• You have a deep-seated sexual prejudice. Let’s say you’ve been brought up to act masculine and openly condemn those who identify themselves as gay. This prejudice won’t get you far with self-growth. Thankfully, there’s higher tolerance and more widespread love and acceptance for people regardless of their gender or sexual preference in today’s modern times. It would be for your benefit to exhibit unconditional acceptance.

Talking about this with your counselor can help open your mind. It can lead you to examine and eventually correct the biases that have been ingrained in your mind through your upbringing. Now you can see things from another perspective, bringing you closer to self-actualization and self-growth.

It Provides Validation And Support

Everyone needs to feel validated and supported from time to time. But not all are raised in an ideal environment. Remember that abuse isn’t just physical; it could be emotional too. You may have felt trapped for a long time in a situation where you did not receive any support and validation from your family or friends.

Counselors can give you that much-needed support and validation. They can create that safe environment where you’re free to talk about your self-doubts.

Counselors are genuine, incredibly understanding, and have a profound positivity that helps you wash away even the most negative thoughts that you have about yourself.

Have you been consistently told you’re a failure and you won’t make it anywhere? Let your counselor help you uncover those lies that you may have accepted as truths in your life.

Believing you’re not a failure can help you with self-growth. With the right mindset, you can achieve extraordinary things.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to enhancing one’s personal growth, you have to be aware that there isn’t a universal strategy for growth and development. Each person is unique. A specific mode for personal growth may work for some but not for others. Other factors to consider are different personal circumstances, needs, and challenges. Nonetheless, there’s no denying that counseling is a crucial component to help people achieve personal growth.

When you submit to counseling, you gain a better understanding of your emotions and why you react the way you do. With regular sessions with your therapist, you can set off on a journey towards personal growth that could usher in positive changes in your life.