Not everything that claims to be growth is real growth. Much of what masquerades as growth is a narcissistic pursuit in a shrewd disguise. What I’ve come to realize is that much of the time, when I think I’ve been growing, I haven’t really been growing. I’ve been trying to fix or improve myself. The line between authentic growth on the one hand, and fake growth on the other, is an obscured landscape. Sometimes I think that I’m growing, and I really believe wholeheartedly that I am. Then I notice an undercurrent of duplicity, and when I dig deeper, I find that what was perpetrating as an authentic endeavor was really not. I wasn’t starting from a place of wholeness and expanding from there. I was trying to cure an invisible illness: my perceived inadequacy, my imposter syndrome, trapped between failure and fraud. That inadequacy is a myth, and has nothing to do with real growth. The other problem I’ve found is that often you think you’re really growing, but you’re just lying to yourself. Some part of you is comfortable. You’ve developed a nice little routine that cushions you and keeps you safe. So you rebel against the routine a little, and you take a little bit of risk. This makes you feel good and you tell yourself you’re growing. But you know that real growth would be much more uncomfortable. It would destroy the routine, and in its place would be an expansion of possibility. Real growth is not about constantly seeking something outside yourself. Real growth is about internal transformation. It’s about the realization that you are already whole. You are already complete. You are already more powerful than you can dare to imagine. Real growth is about embracing that power and doing so fearlessly. The truth about real growth is that real growth doesn’t need validation. It doesn’t need for you to approve or disapprove. It doesn’t need a stamp of validation or the praise of others. It doesn’t need to be sanctioned by a regulated list of socially approved goals. And here’s something else… Real growth doesn’t care that YOU call it growth. It has no ego. It has no internal or external validation system. That’s because real growth is beyond growth. Real growth accepts that sometimes it’s not necessary. Real growth knows that sometimes it’s time to stop growing, because never-ending growth is not sustainable. Sometimes it’s time to let go, to move on, and yes, to decline. Growth and decline are two sides of the same pole. Without one, the other can’t exist. In the end, real growth knows that it doesn’t really matter. It’s not just about rising vertically, or expanding horizontally. Real growth knows that what goes up, must come down, and what expands, must contract. True growth often leads to stillness. And sometimes the most formidable growth… is none at all. Thank you for viewing and hopefully pausing to read and maybe even comment. I value meaningful dialogue over page-views or curt platitudes. ~yO~