FIVE AREAS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

PHYSIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

 Refers to physical changes in the body as well as the senses and changes in skills related to
movement.
 Physical health is defined as the condition of your body, taking into consideration everything from the
absence of disease to fitness level. Physical health is critical for overall well-being and can be
affected by:
 Lifestyle: diet, level of physical activity, and behavior (eating unhealthy foods).
 Human biology: a person’s genetics and physiology may make it easier or harder to achieve good
physical health.
 Environment: our surroundings and exposure to factors such as sunlight or toxic substances; and
 Healthcare service: good healthcare can help prevent illness, as well as to detect and treat illness.
 It is important to take care of your body. Live healthy, eat healthy foods, get enough sleep, exercise
regularly, and avoid drugs and alcohol. Manage stress and go for regular medical check-ups. Practice
good hygiene.
 Self-check. Ask yourself regarding your Physiological Development.
 1. How healthy is your physical body?
 2. Does it get enough rest and sleep?
 3. Is it given nutritional food and sufficient water to help the physiological system do its functions
more optimally?
 4. What aches and pains does your body suffer?
 5. When was your last medical check-up?
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 It has something to do with the feelings that you experience.

 Emotional health is an important part of overall health. Emotionally healthy people are in control of
their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They can cope with life’s challenges. Emotions are responses
that generate biochemical reactions in our bodies, changing the physical state. There are many ways
to improve or maintain good emotional health.
• Be aware of your emotions and reactions. Notice what in your life makes you sad, frustrated, or angry.
Try to address or change those things.
• Think before you act. Emotions can be powerful. Give yourself time to think and be calm before you
say or do something you might regret.
• Manage stress. Try to change situations, causing you stress. Learn relaxation methods to cope with
stress.
• Strive for balance. Find a healthy balance between work and play and between activity and rest. Make
time for things you enjoy. Focus on positive things in your life.
• Take care of your physical health. Your physical health can affect your emotional health. Exercise
regularly, eat healthy meals and get enough sleep. Do not abuse drugs or alcohol.
• Connect with others. We are social creatures. We need positive connections with other people.
Self-check. Ask yourself regarding your Emotional Development: Your own experiences when you
are:

 HAPPY
 SURPRISED
 SAD
 ANGRY
 AFRAID
 DISGUSTED

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 It is about our innate capacity to relate with others, to connect, and to feel the sense of belongingness.
 Social Development refers to how people develop social and emotional skills across the lifespan, with
particular attention to childhood and adolescence. Healthy social development allows us to form
positive relationships with family, friends, teachers, and other people in our lives.
 As a person develops and perceives its individuality within a community, he/she also gains skills to
communicate with other people and process his/her actions. Social development most often refers to
how a person develops friendships and other relationships and how a person handles conflict with
peers.
 Why is social development important?
 Social development can impact many other forms of development a person experiences. Healthy
social development allows us to form positive relationships with family, friends, teachers, and other
people. Healthy social development can help you:
• Develop Communication Skills. An ability to interact with others allows for more opportunities to
practice communications skills.
• Build self-esteem. When a person is unable to make friends, it can be frustrating or even painful. A good
circle of friends reinforces a person’s comfort level with her individuality.
• Strengthen learning skills. Studies show that children who have a hard time getting along with
classmates as early as preschool are more likely to experience later academic difficulties.
• Resolve conflicts. Stronger self-esteem and better language skills can ultimately lead to a better ability
to resolve differences with peers.
• Establish a positive attitude. A positive attitude ultimately leads to better relationships with others and
higher levels of self-confidence.
Self-check. Ask yourself regarding your Emotional Development:
1. How is your relationship with your parents?
2. Do you consider yourself friendly? Why?
3. How do you interact with other people? Are you outgoing?
4. Do you feel belongingness in your family, school, peers
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 Refers to a person’s intellectual abilities as shown in his/her thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and values.
 Cognitive development means how people think, explore, and figure things out. It is the development
of knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and dispositions, which helps a person to think about and
understand the world around them. Brain development is part of cognitive development. This aspect
of the self is enhanced when one attends school to study and learn or engages in other mental
endeavors.
 Mental abilities are developed by engaging in intellectual pursuits such as studies, work, and figuring
out how best to deal with challenges—thinking, planning, organizing, evaluating, and maximizing
cognitive abilities. The more we study, the more we learn; while the more we learn, the more we can
study better.

Self-check. Ask yourself regarding your Cognitive Development:

1. Have you experienced mistakes in the choices you made? How do you deal with these situations?
2. What is your attitude towards your study habits?
3. Are you doing well in your studies?
SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

 It is discovering oneself beyond the ego known as the soul, spirit, or the “inner essence” that is often
disregarded or taken for granted. It is experiencing a glimpse of the “inner guide” of one’s beliefs and
values in discovering the meaning of life.
 It also allows people to connect with a Higher Power that is called by many names like "God,
Buddha, Allah.” “We are Christians, we are committed to the poor, we value people, we are partners,
and are responsive.” As we grow spiritually, our attitude toward life also changes for the better in
many ways. Most of our problems stem from our perceptions and expectations of ourselves and of the
world. One will realize that this solves half the problems of our life. Spiritual growth and
development help us to imbibe humility. Spirituality and inner peace are a way of life. It helps us to
develop great strength and courage. Spiritual growth and development help to make human beings
better citizens.
Self-check. Ask yourself regarding your Spiritual Development
 1. How can you tell that you believe in “God”?
 2. What are the things you do that manifest your spiritual development?

Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior

 The only things we can control in life are our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If we can manage
those, we can achieve our goals and gain success in life.
 To have this level of control, we need to learn about the science-based patterns behind our emotions
and thoughts and manage them. If we know how our minds work, we can be intentional about
influencing our thinking and feeling patterns. We can evaluate reality more clearly, make better
 decisions, and improve our ability to achieve our goals. Thus, we gain greater agency and the quality
of living intentionally. How do our minds work? Intuitively, our mind feels like a cohesive whole. We
perceive ourselves as intentional and rational thinkers. However, cognitive science research shows
that, the intentional part of our mind is similar to a little rider on top of a huge elephant of emotions
and intuitions. Roughly speaking, we have two thinking systems. Daniel Kahneman, who won the
Nobel Prize for his research on behavioral economics, calls them “System 1” and “System 2
 Nevertheless, I think the terms “autopilot system” and “intentional system” describe them more
clearly and intuitively. The autopilot system corresponds to our emotions and intuitions. Its cognitive
processes take place mainly in the amygdala and other parts of the brain that developed early in
evolution. This system guides our daily habits, helps us make snap decisions, and reacts instantly to
dangerous life-and-death situations (such as saber-toothed tigers) through the freeze, fight, or flight
stress response. While it helped us survive in the past, the fight-or-flight response is not an excellent
fit for modern life. We have many small stresses (and big stresses) that are not life-threatening, but
the autopilot system treats them like tigers. This produces an unnecessarily stressful everyday life
experience that undermines our mental and physical well-being. Moreover, while the snap judgments
resulting from intuitions and emotions might feel real because they are fast and powerful, they
sometimes lead us in the wrong, in systemic and predictable ways. The intentional system reflects our
rational thinking and centers around the prefrontal cortex: the part of the brain that evolved more
recently. According to recent research, it developed as humans started to live within larger social
groups. This thinking system helps us handle more complex mental activities, such as managing
individual and group relationships, logical reasoning, probabilistic thinking, and learning new
information and patterns of thinking and behavior. While the automatic system requires no conscious
effort to function, the intentional system takes deliberate effort to turn on, and it is mentally tiring.
Fortunately, with enough motivation and appropriate training, the intentional system can turn on when
the autopilot system is prone to make errors, especially costly ones.

AUTOPILOT SYSTEM INTENTIONAL SYSTEM

 Fast, intuitive, emotional self.  Conscious, reasoning, mindful self
 Requires no effort.  Takes intentional effort to turn on.
 Automatic thinking, feeling and behavior  Drains mental energy.
habits.  Used mainly when we learn new
 Mostly makes good decisions, 80% of information and when we use reason and
time. logic.
  Prone to some predictable and systematic  Can be trained to turn on when it detects
errors autopilot system may be making error.
The autopilot system is like an elephant. It is by far the most powerful and predominant of the two
systems. Our emotions can often overwhelm our rational thinking. Moreover, our intuitions and habits
determine the large majority of our lives, which we spend on autopilot mode. That is not a bad thing at all.
It would be mentally exhausting to think intentionally about every action and decision. The intentional
system is like the elephant rider. It can guide the elephant deliberately to go in the direction that matches
that of our actual goals. Indeed, the elephant part of the brain is huge and unwieldy. It is slow to turn and
change, and it stampedes at threats, but we can train the elephant. Your rider can be an elephant whisperer.
Over time, you can use the intentional system to change your automatic thinking, feeling, and behavioral
patterns. In this way, you will become a better agent in terms of taking charge of your life and reaching
your goals. I hope this information fills you with optimism. You can use these strategies to get what you
want and achieve success in life!
From the Author, Gleb Tsipursky Ph. D., April 13, 2016 An example of such interconnection of Thoughts,
Feelings, and Behavior is when we experience the pandemic crisis. Surely, we cannot control the things
that have to happen, especially the spread of the virus or the many deaths and cases steadily. rising.
However, from the citations from Dr. Tsipursky, the only manageable and controllable aspect that we can
use to combat what we are experiencing are the things that we already have. Further, they are readily
available, within your reach, within your aspect of control. Our perception of stress, brought mainly by
the pandemic times, can be directed to productive use, only if we make the necessary effort to change.
The Personality Theory of Bandura (Bandura, 2006), suggests that we learn mostly through observations
—observing others' actions, behaviors, and the outcome of these behaviors. The more productive and
positive the outcome of behaviors observed, the more the behavior is highly repeated and eventually
rewarded. Our practical adjustment to the pandemic times is already an example. How people adjust to
such a crisis—for some, can adjust easily and understand the predicament that they are experiencing.
Meanwhile, others are good at perceiving such good qualities of adjustment and understanding that
becomes highly desirable.
Albert Bandura’s study does not only involve observations, but it expounds on the sphere of influence.
These include the influence of the environment and vice-versa. Our thoughts (thinking), feelings, and
behavior influence the environment (and those merely observing). Even though the environmental times
are changing, we still have our capacity to decide and perceive change, of course, ourselves in the process
as the most significant factor. People’s responses change as they encounter new situations. Research
shows that people who believe in their capacity to excel tend to perform better. People with high self-
efficacy view challenges as an opportunity to be equipped. Believing that such moments are learning
experiences, they commit to finishing the tasks—whatever it takes. They keep pushing forward despite
discouragements. Meanwhile, people with weak self-efficacy do not believe in their ability to succeed.
Thus, they avoid tasks that they think are too difficult. When evaluating themselves, they only focus on
their weaknesses. With this kind of mindset, they easily give up. Therefore, how one sees oneself matters!
What a person believes he/she can and cannot do matters! One’s beliefs about oneself can determine one’s
future. Our personal development is not only limited to the physical and intellectual aspects. One must be
aware that human development involves holistic development—physiologically, emotionally, cognitively,
socially, and spiritually. Thus, when we look at ourselves, we must take into account all of these aspects.
We cannot recognize some and ignore others because they are interrelated. One aspect affects all the
others. If one wants to be a healthy human being, one must pay attention to those aspects of development.