Dana stormed into my office looking upset and exhausted. She collapsed in the arm chair announcing that “ I can’t take this any more. I can’t go on like this any more”. What is it? I asked. “The rat race and constnt need to to meet the standards of all my roles. These days its not enough to be a good mom OR a successful career woman OR a loving wife. You’ve got to appease everyone on all fronts and succeed in everything. Its impossible- something has to change!

Sound familiar?

Situations in which our ways of doing things and dealing with life don’t work for us are precious turning points because they force us to look for new ways and as such to expand our personal resources, coping skills and the tools available to us to deal with life’s many challenges.

Self- empowernment is an option. Self -Empowernment improves effiency, self- effectiveness and the ability to set and achieve goals by “increasing the spiritual, political, educational, gender or economic stregnth of individuals but it doesn’t change the fundamental structure or composition of what is. You continue to be in the same place so to speak just stronger and more able to cope with reality in terms of having more skills available to you.

Empowernment is not a bad option but that there is another option that is much more intriguing and promising which is evolvement.

Evolvement or in other words development is the most fundamental and intrinsic tendency in nature. So much so that what doesn’t evolves dies. Seeds that fail to germinate die. Fetuses that fail to develop die and so on.

Evolvement implies taking something simple and turning it into to a more complex form. It always involves change in structure and level of functioning.

For example: Germination and the development of plants initiates change in both form and levles of functioning. Plants are more evolved versions of seeds because plants are capable of dealing with conditions, needs and botanical proceses that are more complex than those observed in seeds.

Personal development involves awakening and unleashing aspects of the Self have were unavailable until that point, making them accessible and available or in other words, revealing and activating dornmant potential.It’s a process that significantly expands who we are, our ability to deal with the situations in our lives and how we experience reality.

Evolvement always seemed to me as more fascinating and more exciting. Considering that it holds the potential not only to promote better goal setting and achievement levels but also the potential to really thrive.

Dana decided to get her life back under control by engaging in a courgeous and sincere process of self-growth. She modified many of her beliefs about herself, about her life and about how things need to be, she learned how to manage her thoughts and emotions in resourceful and self-serving ways and developed new ways of being in the world and new ways of handling the challenges of her life.

She claims that she was granted a gift which she could appreciate as such only in retrospect. “ I revealed aspects of myself I had no idea existed and aquired and tool box for life that has literaly taken me and my life to a new level. I am truly in a different place.

I am honored to have been part of her journey back to her real self.

Author's Bio: 

Joan Jacobs, holistic healer, has 25 years experience as clinical healer, educator and speaker. Her clinical expertise is emotional, spiritual and personality –related healing. Joan teaches at the Faculty of Health Sciences and at the School of Continuing Education for The Medical Profession at The Ben Gurion University, Israel, and has held senior teaching and directing positions at leading schools of complementary medicine. Joan instructs cancer and substance abuse recovery programs as well as women’s empowerment and health programs.
In the corporate world Joan addresses interpersonal relationships in the work place and has worked with some of Israel's leading companies. In 2010 she created The Light Within International Healing and Personal Transformation Workshop Program) and published her first book titled Messages from the Soul-A Holistic Approach to Healing. She is former host of The Light Within Weekly Radio Talk Show on VoiceAmerica and is manager of The Light Within Online Community at: www.jjacobshealth.com