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Journey of personal development (Part 3):Transcend yourself

© Paul T.P. Wong, PhD, CPsych

The fifth cycle of Meaningful Living Group, March, 2015

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Overview

  • Personal development is a process
  • The key stages of development: self-reflection, self-determination, & self-transcendence
  • Major theories of personal development
  • How to achieve self-transcendence in life
  • Meaning Manifesto

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Moving from survival, healing to thriving

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Constructing a better future

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Personal growth is a process

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Stages of personal development

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Self-reflection

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Self-determination

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Choose your worldviews carefully

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Self-transcendence

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Self-transcendence makes us �fully human

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Ancient Greeks

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Aristotle’s Four Cardinal Virtues

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Confucius Five Cardinal Virtues

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Carl Roger’s view of personal growth

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Self-actualization

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Seligman’s Well-being Theory

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Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy

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Basic tenets of logotherapy�

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What is self-transcendence?

  • It’s a primary motivation
  • It’s an ultimate value
  • It’s an expression of our spiritual nature
  • It’s a way of overcoming our limitations
  • It’s a way of integrating paradoxes & opposites
  • It’s a the life style of a fully functioning human being

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The meaning mindset vs. the success mindset

Success

Failure

Meaning Fulfillment

Emptiness

Ideal Life

Wasted Life

Shallow Life

Sacrificial Life

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Transcends opposites

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Virtue matters more than success

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What is the meaning of life?

  • The most important question in psychology and psychotherapy: What makes life worth living? What is the meaning of life?
  • Different visions of the good life or worthy life
  • Meaning is important for survival and flourishing
  • Meaning involves all aspects of the person – cognitive, affective, motivational, social, cultural, spiritual and relational

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Meanings are based on three values

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Sources of Meaning

  • Achievement
  • Acceptance
  • Transcendence
  • Intimacy
  • Relationship
  • Religion
  • Fairness
  • Positive emotions

According to Wong (1998), there are 8 sources of meaning and the good life.

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Self-transcendence in PURE

  • Purpose – based on passion, value & self-transcendence
  • Understanding – based on a sense of coherence and relating to paradoxes in life
  • Responsibility – for doing the right thing and being accountable to a higher authority
  • Enjoyment – having a positive assessment of one life as a whole

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The Meaning Mindset

  • Life has intrinsic meaning and value
  • I have the capacity for meaning seeking and meaning making
  • Meaning can be discovered anywhere
  • I can live at a deeper level by detecting the meaning & significance of any situation
  • I can live at a higher plane by serving a higher purpose & being attuned to the transcendental realm and sacredness in daily living.
  • I can live fully by integrating by my potentialities with my vulnerabilities moment by moment

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Meaning Intervention

  • Accept and confront the negative reality -- the reality principle
  • Believe that life is worth living and affirm what is good– the faith principle
  • Commit to worthy goals and responsible actions – the action principle
  • Discover the meaning and happiness of living – the meaning principle
  • Enjoy the success -- the reinforcement principle or Evaluate the above – the self-regulation principle

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Benefits of Meaning in Life

  • Mental & physical health
  • Survival & flourishing
  • Recovery & resilience
  • Religiousness & spirituality
  • Personal growth
  • Social harmony

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Power of self-transcendence

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A good life based on �self-transcendence