Actually it’s a good thing.  Being functionally neurotic that is.  It’s the functional part that helps.

Functionally neurotic is how I refer to myself, and to most of us.  We aren’t perfect.  We are functional.  We get things done, sometimes in spite of our fears and emotions.  Part of how we do this is with our willingness to change age old patterns.  The coined phrase is Personal Growth.

Personal Growth is ultimately about learning that we can change our circumstances; that we aren’t stuck unless we choose to be.  More importantly, it’s an idea that we can bring focus to this change, this personal development; and we can explore both what works in our life, and what doesn’t.  We can look at the “why” and “how”.  We can get support and help for it without being considered just flat wacko.

That’s pretty new.  I think my generation (broadly called the Baby Boomers) is the first generation for whom this is true.  In my lifetime the idea of ‘counseling’ has lost a great deal of its stigma.  We no longer think of getting help and support as a situation like that of Olivia De Havilland in 1948’s The Snake Pit.

 It’s been a struggle.  For many years anyone wanting help was considered either truly ‘disturbed’ or at the very least helplessly self-absorbed.

Certainly the roots of personal growth come from philosophy, religion, psychology and even anthropology.

The game has changed a great deal in the last 50 years.  In 1971 Werner Erhard of EST started “intensive communications and self-empowerment workshops.”  Although controversial, they certainly created a distinction between therapy and self-help.   In 1992 a Financial Planner named Thomas Leonard founded “Coach U”, the first professional “coach” training organization.

The possibilities are both varied and accessible today.

I’m delighted to both a recipient and provider of support.  It’s truly wonderful that we can ‘break the chain’ of all sorts of behaviors with consciousness and support.

This, I think is a great improvement for humankind.  We are no longer stuck doing things the way our parents and their parents and their parents did things.  Sure, sometimes an old way is the best way.  But not always.  And when they aren’t, we can make new choices in our lives in many areas, none the least of which is money.

Think about it. Where have you availed yourself of this concept of ‘personal growth’ that your parents or grandparents never even heard of, let alone would have ever considered?  Makes a difference doesn’t it?