Environmental Influences on Personal Growth
In a previous article, I wrote how we all have the same basic needs irrespective of where we come from, what our backgrounds are, etc.
At the end of the article I intimated that each of us has our own individual Values System based on the choices we have made or the conditioning we’ve taken onboard from external environments.
In order to be proactive, and utilize your human potential to its maximum, it’s useful to be aware of the nine major groups which influenced you and which continue to influence you in varying degrees.
In actual fact you are constantly engaging in your own life coaching to maximize your self-improvement success.
This personal development article has a broad focus on the major influences from which your Value System developed.
Overtly or covertly, these nine groups still affect you. The choices you make within these groups will determine the quality of your life and of those with whom you interact.
Of enormous significance will be the Values you consistently portray to children, as children mimic adults more than you realize.
So, here are the 9 groups:
- HOME
Your family environment has had a very strong impact in the formation of your core Values.
Did you grow up in a family?
Was it a single-child family? If not, where in the age-hierarchy do you fit in?
What gender are you? Is there an obvious preference for one gender over the other?
Was your family warm and loving or was affection withheld? If so, to what degree?
Were you often praised?
When results came from school or exams, were you praised or were you told “you could you have done better”, followed by a tirade of how things need to be improved?Do you get the picture?
How you grew up will have a strong influence on how you see yourself in the parenting-type role.I made a conscious decision to have my daughter grow up in a different environment from the one I had.
- FRIENDSHIPS
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “You can tell the kind of person someone is by the friends they keep”, or “If you want to be a millionaire, mix with them”.
That is not to say that you only have friends because you can gain from them, certainly not, but it depends on how much time you spend with different groups.
Friends and peers play a role in forming our values and, therefore, subsequently our beliefs. These, in turn, form our attitudes.
Has your circle of friends changed over the years?
- FINANCES/WORK
What sort of comments did you hear at home about money as you were growing up?
Were they scarcity comments?
Was money not an issue?
Was there always enough money in your home for the things you and the family needed (not wanted)?
What sort of comments about money did you hear from your extended family?
Did your family go on annual holidays abroad? Or more often?
When you went to work, what were your saving and spending habits like?
What are you habits like now?
Has your attitude towards money changed over time?
- HEALTH and FITNESS
What are your eating habits like? Do you prefer healthy foods over junk food?
Do you live by to the concept: “You are what you consume”? That is what you eat and drink.
Do you mainly eat to nourish your brain and body or do you eat for the sake of it, because you enjoy food?
Do you comfort eat?
What consistent actions do you take to keep yourself fit in all aspects, cardiovascularly, weights, play sports?
Do you make sure you have regular breaks to do neck stretches, shoulder and body stretches when you sit hours at the computer?
- SPIRITUALITY
Did you grow up with formalized religion? No formalized religion? An informal form of spirituality?
What was the attitude towards religion during your formative years?
Did you make a conscious change in your spiritual persuasion?
Do you have any form of spiritual persuasion, or none?
What is your attitude towards religion now? Has it changed?
Did you grow up under a political system which disallowed religion?
Was there a “survival of the fittest” attitude in your environment?
Is your world “I “ centered or are you community-minded?
Do you really care what happens globally?
- EDUCATION
What was the attitude towards formal education in your home? Was there a gender difference?
What sort of role models did you have as you were growing up?
What is your highest achievement in formal education? Are you satisfied with that?
What have you done to self-develop?
How serious are you about life-long learning?
What are you doing to enhance your personal growth?
When you embark on a course of personal development, are you always fully committed to it? Do you not only read, but ACTION whatever the course requires? Do you complete courses?
Are you a seminar junkie?
- GEOGRAPHY
Did you grow up in a rural area, a small, mid-sized, large city, a metropolis, a megapolis?
What was the economic situation of your larger environment?
What was housing like? Lots of room or congested?
Was the area peaceful or were you threatened by external events?
Was there cultural diversity that caused issues?
What about pollution, necessary utilities such as fresh water, sewerage, etc?
How friendly and trusting were people? Are people where you now love?
When you walk down a street in your suburb, do you lower your eyes, or smile and greet others?
- RELATIONSHIPS
How are your relationships?
As a general rule, do you believe people are trustworthy and good?
Do you like people?
Would you call yourself a people-person?
How many real friends do you consider you have?
Do you make acquaintances/friends easily?
What would you consider yourself to be an introvert or an extrovert?
- MEDIA
The Media whether in the form of the various TV options, the written word, or radio has monumental impact on leading society’s values evolution. Positive and negative.
How you react to the smorgasbord of Media Values will depend on your Core Values, those that make up the fundamental Values by which you would live or die.
Each of the forms of the Media cannot make you do or think anything. The choice is yours as to what you take on board and what you discard.
In conclusion, think for a moment, what your perspectives are on any of the above areas and see if you can’t determine their origin.
Where do some of your attitudes toward sensitive issues in society stem from?
Topics such a same sex relationships, euthanasia, certain political parties, firearms policy, aspects within education, certain religions, differing cultures, government policies, abortion, cloning, genetic engineering, taxation, global issues, social justice, and the list could go on.
With all this diversity, paramount is a respect for the other person’s model of the world; to appreciate where they are coming from.
Ultimately, it’s not up to us to judge anyone.
Good Point, Gloria. You have just point out the most important factors that shape a person’s personality.
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