According to Dennis Pratt, founder of the Greater Boston Area Personal Growth Network, personal growth is the practice of "consciously and proactively creating more happiness and success" in life.

I used to assume that this was something everyone was interested in -- or rather, they would be, if only they were willing to give it a try. After all, it was valuable to me -- how could that value not be universal? This assumption ran so deep in me that even when people flat out said they weren't interested in personal growth, I couldn't quite believe it. I assumed they must be ignorant, or afraid, or in denial.

Or maybe, I eventually realized, they are just different from me.

Thank goodness for those differences.

Can you imagine a world filled with nothing but personal growth experts? Who would plant the food? Create art? Invent smartphones? Tell stories? Fix broken bones? Maintain the roads? It is a scary thought!

But I also wouldn't want to live in a world without people committed to personal growth. Who would motivate and encourage us to set ambitious goals? Remind us that we have the freedom to do what we love? Help us find meaning in our life stories? Show us by their example that great things are possible?

Both the challenge and the beauty of life is there is no one right way to live. We really do have the freedom to choose, and no choice can make us fundamentally better or worse than anyone else. Or at least that's how I choose to see it. :)

Anne Lafleur
http://www.thegiftofhappiness.org