The Path and the Goal
If life’s a journey, everyone’s goal is similar, even if everyone’s path is different. Call it ‘happiness’, ‘life-satisfaction’, or ‘fulfilment’; everyone wants to feel good about themselves, their life and their world. Read more…
1. Awakening
You’ve begun your personal development when you’ve realised you’re unhappy and you need to do something about it. If you’re unsure your problems will benefit from professional help, look online to see what professionals advise. Read more…
2. Preparation
If you’ve thought of getting help, but haven’t, perhaps you don’t feel ready. Don’t put it it off: one study showed that 80% of people who didn’t get help felt as bad four years later (3) Read more…
3. Scouting
Once you’ve made personal development a project, you’ll want to shop around for help. The web is a bustling marketplace for coaches who say they’ll “up your game” and therapists who say they’ll repair Read more…
4. Determination
At Kipapa, we spend the first couple of sessions exploring your situation. We develop a good working relationship and find the best path to take. At the start of this journey, it’s normal to have mixed feelings, as different parts of you want to head in different directions. Read more…
5. Expedition
Now the real work will begins. You want to solve in weeks problems that took years to mature. So success will take more than insight. You’ll need to feel uncomfortable feelings, make decisions and complete assignments. How can you make this journey succeed? Read more…
6. Challenge
Challenges are obstacles in the way of your development as a person. Human development continues lifelong, unless you get blocked by being unable, for example, to leave home, find a partner, progress at work, or pursue your interests.Read more…
7. Setback
Every development journey has its ups and downs. You may feel worse for a while, as we uncover the causes of your problems together. That may feel like a setback, but don’t lose heart: those feelings also show us what’s going on and make success more likely. Read more…
8. Breakthrough
Many books, courses, and therapies sell breakthrough, the myth of the “golden key” that will unlock your problems. OK, some people do get big changes from a single solution, but even when there is one key, it can be difficult to find, and most people need several solutions. Read more…
9. Success
If you define your problem as feeling bad, then anything that reduces bad feelings can count as success. But if you feel bad because you don’t like yourself or your situation, then success means changing yourself or your situation as well as your feelings.Read more…
10. Consolidation
People often stop personal development work as soon as they feel better: They think they can relax and get back to the old groove. Bad idea! – particularly with problems like anxiety and depression, where studies show a third to a half of people who feel better soon slide back into the same pit of bad feelings. Read more…
11. Sharing
Some see Personal Development work as selfish navel-gazing, which would be true if it were only about you. But in reality, you’re taking action so you can be of more value to others as well as yourself. You have things to offer that the world needs. Read more…
12. Enjoyment
The point of Personal Development is to get more value from life for yourself and for others. At Kipapa we’re here to help people get out of life’s troughs, so they can ride life’s waevs, enjoy the beach, and climb their personal mountains. Ultimately, though, we’re about helping people to value their life and enjoy it to the full. Studies show that most of the time people “stumble on happiness”(7), rather than know where to find it. It can be elusive… Read more…
Bibliography
- Hansen NB, Lambert MJ, Forman EM. The Psychotherapy Dose-Response Effect and Its Implications for Treatment Delivery Services. Clin Psychol Sci Pract. 2006 May 11;9(3):329–343.
- Diener E, Tay L. A scientific review of the remarkable benefits of happiness for successful and healthy living. Happiness. 2017;
- Bjerkeset O, Nordahl HM, Larsson S, Dahl AA. A 4-year follow-up study of syndromal and sub-syndromal anxiety and depression symptoms in the general population. Social Psychiatry and …. 2008;