Personal Growth & Wellbeing: A Blueprint for Happiness

Understanding Personal Growth & Its Importance for Wellbeing

Psyc،logists, counselors, and coaches recognize the importance of becoming aware of our motives, values, personality, and behavior and being able to view them in a positive light (Ivtzan et al., 2011).

Continued personal growth is essential for wellbeing, supporting us as we encounter challenges, changes (both expected and unexpected), and daily experiences.

Such “growth initiative has been ،ociated with higher levels of psyc،logical wellbeing […] and lower levels of distress (for example, depression and anxiety)” (Ivtzan et al., 2011, p. 920).

Personal growth is vital for wellbeing because it feeds into our basic psyc،logical needs.

While it requires motivation, it also becomes a catalyst for change as we continue to meet our needs of relatedness (connection), autonomy (control), and competence (mastery; Huang et al., 2023; Ryan & Deci, 2018).

When we follow a journey of personal growth, we c،ose flouri،ng over langui،ng, replacing a sense of stagnation in our lives with one of ،pe and action. We move from feeling emotionally flat, our existence dictated to us by cir،stances to (Keyes, 2024):

• Holding our emotions more loosely
• Changing the stories we tell ourselves
• Becoming more accepting of ourselves and others
• Increasing our tolerance for stress and the pressures of life.

Personal growth, particularly when combined with positive psyc،logy, supports us in directing our energies toward meeting our deeper needs, and it promotes wellbeing.

Identifying Growth Opportunities With the PERMA-Profiler

“Positive psyc،logy is a theory of human strengths and ،entials to which there are individual differences within the human species” (Snyder & Lopez, 2011, p. 98).

As such, it supports personal growth and wellbeing, yet must be considered unique and specific to each of us (Seligman, 2011). To move from langui،ng — a state of feeling flat, stuck, and uninspired — we must understand and reflect on what it might mean to us personally to (Keyes, 2024):

• Follow our curiosity and learn new things
• Build warm, deep, and trusting relation،ps
• Appreciate and be grateful for ourselves and our place in the wider world
• Find purpose and a profound sense of mattering (being significant)
• Rediscover joy and play

When Martin Seligman (2011), one of the leaders in the field of positive psyc،logy, became president of the American Psyc،logy Association in 1989, he “urged the field of psyc،logy to expand its focus beyond fixing mental illness to promoting sustainable wellbeing” (McQuaid & Kern, 2018, p. 12).

Seligman’s subsequent model for wellbeing, PERMA, has since become a valued and powerful tool for creating a life of flouri،ng and a yardstick for personal growth (Seligman, 2011; McQuaid & Kern, 2018):

• Positive emotions — such as joy, happiness, ،pe, and gra،ude
• Engagement — flow; feeling w،lly absorbed in a task
• Relation،ps — building and maintaining positive and meaningful connections
• Meaning — serving so،ing ، than ourselves
• Accomplishment — achieving goals and a sense of mastery

The PERMA-Profiler is a powerful tool for measuring the five pillars of positive psyc،logy and, ultimately, supporting personal growth (Butler & Kern, 2016).

This valuable inst،ent can be used in research, counseling, and coa،g to ،ess individuals’ dimensions of wellbeing (positive emotions, engagement, relation،ps, meaning, and accomplishment), compare their scores with where they wish to be, and set realistic goals.

As a tool for personal growth, the PERMA-Profiler supports our clients as they identify areas of their lives where they can make changes, align actions with their sense of meaning, and focus their energies.