Getting my body back Friday - Perseverance Through the Growth Process

The final achievement of your goal reflects the level of growth you’ve attained during the process.

When you first made the decision to go after what you desire, you may not have known how to get there. You finalized in your heart and mind that you would achieve what you set out to do.

The information you gleaned, the hours of research, the frustration that you came through were all a part of the growth process. The roadblocks which made you draw on your creative juices to find another way to arrive at your destiny. The failures that made you stop to think and regroup. The tests that made you re-evaluate the value and worth of your goal. The friends you met along the way to give you support. The information you absorbed from every book you read. Perhaps the countless hours spent dreaming, adjusting, hoping, praying were all part of your growth process.

You learned a lot more about yourself; your strengths, your weaknesses. You built up your muscles and were able to do things you never thought you could, when you first started off. Changes occurring on the inside of you produced the outward results of your final achievement.

Here you are today standing tall because you endured and persevered. Others admire your success and wish they had what you have. But, are they willing to pay the price to learn and grow? The learning process caused you to evolve into the type of person you have now become; a process which took place on the inside, where no one else witnessed but you and then manifested itself outward.

Every mature tree began very much the same way; a seed in the soil invisible to the eyes, but quietly changing and growing until it breaks through the ground’s surface. Much of its growth is taking place on the inside bearing outward witness of the inward changes.

I feel the changes that are occurring in my body, invisible to the outer world. Day after day, I learn and grow within. Listening to my body and becoming more in tuned. As long as I keep changing from the inside it will reflect on the outside.

4 areas to enhance personal growth

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 71

We had noticed that a few of our seedlings, like some of the green peppers and watermelons, have stopped growing. Because these were not doing very well, we started another set of green peppers and watermelons in another area outside of the main garden. They have since germinated and are growing really well. We figured that perhaps the first set were not getting enough sunlight where they were set or maybe too much water that kept them from growing.

Some positions in the garden are better suited for certain plants, like our broccolis, which get sunlight but also have quite a bit of shade during the day from the maple tree. They are thriving really well.

If you have come to a position in your life that you find that you are not experiencing growing, it is time to consider your options to create change and promote growth.

Four areas to consider for your personal growth

1) Spiritual growth - checking the soil of your heart is the first place to start. Check your spiritual connection. Spending time in silent meditation connecting with your spiritual Source, reading the Bible, listening to spiritual audios, reading other spiritual books for deeper insights and inspiration and prayer are all areas where you can fill your time to encourage and enhance your spiritual growth.

2) Mental growth - learning something new in a new field of interest. Learning to do something new will stir up your mental faculties and keep you sharp and alert. Read material that are thought provoking which causes you to think and ask questions keeps your thinking cap in proper working condition.

3) Physical growth - although, like me, after you have reached a certain age, have stopped growing in height, your physical growth is not just limited to adding inches or centimetres to your height, it also includes eating healthy and remaining active. Engaging in physical activity, even if it is in 10 minute spurts throughout the day helps keep your body in active gear.

4) Relationship growth - as you develop and grow in our spiritual, mental and physical growth, your relationship with others begin to improve. Your perspective of others begins to change. You begin to attract relationships that will enhance your own personal growth as you enhance theirs, as well. You become more loving and tolerant of others.

Check these 4 main areas to see where you could make the adjustments to encourage your personal growth that you may reach the fullness of maturity to begin to bear fruit and live your life on purpose.

Trust in the growth process

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 54

It's amazing and exciting to see the seedlings as they penetrate their way up through the soil in the garden; watermelons, squash, cucumbers, peas, beans and other vegetables. Our family has enjoyed preparing the garden and now we're just excited to see things really happening.

Before we could transplant the seedlings that were growing indoors out into the garden, we had to take them through the hardening process so they could adapt to the new temperate change. Because they were grown indoors, they were not used to the extreme weather conditions outside. Manual hardening is essential in order to avoid the shock of the changed and fluctuating outdoor temperatures.

It's amazing how nature provides its own hardening process for the outdoor seedlings. A little at a time, they crack the surface of the soil while harnessing the warmth of the sun still partially shaded by patches of soil. Gradually, they gain strength each day until they finally break free right through the soil, totally exposed to and absorbing the sun's rays. It's truly an awesome process. And even though the seedlings have to push their way through to the surface, the process is so natural and effortless.

Whatever may seem as a struggle for you at this time, consider these seedlings, relax and trust the process. You become stronger, a little at a time, as you persevere. You press forward , a little at a time, until you break free. The seedling never struggles but naturally and effortlessly yields to the process as it emerges gracefully.

See the beauty of the process as you go through whatever adverse condition you're facing. Instead of seeing your struggle from inside your storm, come from without as an observer like we are, observing the seedlings emerge, and know that the breaking through process is necessary for your growth and stability.