With some self-discipline and self-reflection, you can learn and grow from your past mistakes. Use these 4 pillars of personal growth as a guide.

Learning to grow from your past mistakes can be a real speed bump in people’s lives. Before they can work on improving the things around them, they should first take a look at themselves and take some steps towards self-improvement.

It’s not an easy road, as it’s very easy to fall back into bad habits, but with some personal training and time for reflection, you’ll discover a new and better you in no time.

4 Pillars of Personal Growth
4 Pillars of Personal Growth

The First Stage is Compassion

Before you can work on yourself, it’s important that you learn about the feelings of others. Many people turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, so being aware of their emotions instead of judging them is a good first step. It will put you in touch with your own emotions as well so that you can learn to understand them better instead of resorting to baser emotions or just writing them off as nothing.

Being too compassionate, however, can result in overwhelming stress. Learn when to turn this off through meditation or you could learn hypnosis online, at your own pace. Whatever helps you get through the day.

The Second Stage is Curiosity

Be curious about the world around you. Take the appropriate steps to find out how things work instead of accepting the status quo. Training your brain to look at things in a different light will make you more open to new experiences instead of recoiling in fear and misunderstanding.

Try out a new activity you’ve never done before. Startup a new conversation with a stranger. You’ll be surprised by what you could learn on a given day.

The Third Stage is Awareness

One key trait of self-improvement is being aware of what’s going on around you. Many people like to stick their heads in the sand and only focus on their own lives. At some points, this is necessary for self-care, but living your entire life this way is selfish.

Develop a healthy relationship between you and the world by seeing and appreciating what’s going on around you. Forming connections, even from afar, will help you build a new way of seeing the world.

The Fourth Stage is Service

With everything that’s been said, it’s time to make a contribution to the world to make it a better place. This isn’t an incentive to take all the problems of the world onto your shoulders; instead, pour all of your energy into one important task at the top of your list to make a difference.

Donate to charity, volunteer at a shelter, or work in a soup kitchen. Even the smallest actions help. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

It’s going to take a lot of effort and self-discipline to improve who you are, but it can be done as long as you exercise self-reflection to see if you’re moving in the right direction. But don’t forget to take care of yourself as well; you’re a person in this world who deserves to have their needs satisfied.