Harmonious personality: distinctive features and ways to achieve

The article explains:

1. Description of a harmonious personality
2. Qualities of harmonious and disharmonious personalities
3. Factors that interfere with the harmonious development of personality
4. 5 steps to a harmonious personality

Many people would like to say to themselves that they are a harmonious person, but not everyone is able to do this. It is often believed that living in harmony with oneself and the world is an unattainable dream that takes many years to achieve. Indeed, this path takes different amounts of time for everyone, but anyone can make their dream come true.

To get closer to harmony in your own life, you need to realize what is stopping you now and what you want in the end. In our article we will tell you how to become a harmonious person, what problems need to be solved and what steps will bring you closer to this goal.

Definition of the concept

A harmonious personality is a person who has optimally integrated dynamic internal structures, consistency with the outside world, and normal functioning of life. A personality that is harmoniously developed is an individual who has uniform development in all areas of his activity, who has no internal conflicts, and internal harmony is evident. Such an individual has achievements in various directions, but he has special skills or abilities that stand out from the rest.

A person who has a balance between the inner and outer world is called harmonious.

1. Inner harmony means awareness of one’s own “I”. A person has no internal contradictions, he has realized his strengths and weaknesses, and accepted himself as he is.
2. External harmony is spoken of when a person does not have any problems with the outside world. The individual has good relationships with relatives, colleagues, friends and even unfamiliar individuals.

A harmoniously developed person pleases those around him with his ability to get along, his ability to adapt to changing conditions, and his mental health.

Raising a harmonious personality is directly related to the development of life values ​​and motives. For a person to achieve harmony, he must have a balance between the following personal formations:

• motives;
• needs;
• self-esteem;
• value orientations;
• image of "I".

Harmonious and versatile development of personality is the formation of abilities, various interests corresponding to different spheres of a person’s life, the predominance of the most significant personal spheres.

Conditions and ways

Harmonious development is the optimal path not only for achieving harmony, but also for unlocking your full potential. But under what conditions the formation of a harmoniously developed personality occurs is difficult to answer unambiguously.

For harmonious development, it is necessary to enrich the mind and feelings, and form the will. Raising a harmoniously developed personality should not focus on any one ability of the individual, but rather, embrace his entire inner world.

Firstly, a person must already have developed the ability to self-control. Otherwise, he simply will not be able to correlate social requirements with his desires. This ability develops through reinforcing actions (praise, rewards) of significant adults. Submission to external demands, the ability to reconcile one’s immediate desires is a necessary condition for development.

Regarding self-control, we can cite the results of Michel's research, namely the famous marshmallow tests, which in some way allowed us to advance in our understanding of success and its criteria. The essence of the experiment was as follows: the child was left alone in the room with a marshmallow or candy, asked not to eat it for a certain amount of time for a reward - a double portion of sweets.

The researchers observed how the child dealt with his desire and how long he was able to hold on. As a result of the tests, those children who coped with the expectation, growing up, had a better quality of life.

Secondly, a harmoniously developed personality cannot be formed without an enriched environment. Diversity is a stimulating factor for the activity of thoughts and feelings.

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Thirdly, independence and meaningfulness are important. The more challenges a person solves himself, the faster he develops and the more enthusiastically he establishes connections with the world. In this case, he develops the conviction that he himself is responsible for his own destiny.

Characteristic manifestations of a harmoniously developed person

You can call yourself harmoniously developed if you have the following manifestations:

• the presence of a calm mood, the predominance of positive emotions;
• the main support in life is “I myself”, I don’t blame my problems on circumstances;
• a positive attitude towards oneself, even when certain shortcomings are identified;
• flexibility of emotional state;
• having a healthy lifestyle;
• acceptance of the fact that there is “evil” and “good”, that there is a “dark” and “light side” in the world;
• a real look at what is happening in the world around us;
• good relationships with family members, colleagues and friends;
• having life goals and achieving them;
• general life satisfaction;
• the ability to limit oneself in desires and choose priorities;
• moderate manifestation of temperament;
• friendly attitude towards strangers;
• the ability to properly spend energy;
• desire to learn new things;
• unity with natural resources, a sense of the beauty of nature;
• presence of creative activity.

The problem of disharmony

It is also important to know about the characteristic manifestations of a disharmonious personality:

• isolation;
• disturbances in the emotional sphere;
• unmotivated aggression;
• behavioral problems;
• suspiciousness;
• presence of doubts and fears.

The presence of the above character traits leads to the development of inadequate self-esteem.

In disharmonious individuals, conscious life and unconscious affects interfere with normal life and personality development. There is an intrapersonal conflict, which leads to the inability to make correct decisions and respond adequately to them even in elementary situations. Both external and internal conditions can influence the development of such conflicts.

1. External ones are characterized by the inability to satisfy deeply significant motives. A person experiences a contradiction between his desire and what he can actually do. It is important to decide on life priorities. Sometimes it won’t be superfluous to visit a psychologist or psychotherapist, because the problem may be hidden deeply, for example, the presence of childhood psychotrauma is possible.
2. Internal ones may include subjective unsolvability, the problematic nature of the situation that has arisen. Such an intrapersonal conflict can be resolved only if the individual changes his attitude to a particular case, and he develops new motives that allow him to return to normal life activities.

How to cultivate a harmonious personality

There are certain principles, following which will allow you to find harmony over time.

1. It is important to always remain yourself. Today you can meet people who do not want to demonstrate their true feelings even to themselves; they limit themselves to far-fetched norms and rules. As a result, it turns out that a person himself does not know what exactly he wants. Due to this, he does not achieve any success, because without knowing what you want, you cannot achieve what you want. Therefore, stop following imposed stereotypes, understand that you must be yourself, do not be shy about your desires and achieve what you really want.
2. Don't be afraid of change. Of course, many people plan their lives ahead. However, no one is immune from possible changes and unforeseen situations. A harmoniously developed person differs from an ordinary person in that he allows himself to make mistakes, he does not blame himself for the fact that something did not go the way he would like, he is able to adapt to changes, and does not take possible failures to heart.
3. Don't remember bad things. Some people carry some kind of negative information through the years, storing in their memory what still causes unpleasant emotions today. The correct thing is the desire to let go of the past, to understand that it cannot be changed, that it should not affect the future.
4. See the beauty of the world around you. It is important to learn to recognize the beauty around you. Many of us are accustomed to monotonous everyday life, not noticing what is happening around us. Few people pay attention to the singing of birds, to the dew on the leaves of trees, to the first buds or opening flower buds. And sometimes it’s worth not rushing at breakneck speed to work or school, but stop for a second and look around, notice the beauty of nature. You also need to go into the forest more often, go to the park, in order to directly contact the outside world.
5. Laughter prolongs life. It has been scientifically proven that people who have a positive attitude towards life are significantly less likely to experience stress. Positive emotions have a beneficial effect on overall health. A person's anxiety level decreases.

An individual who wants to find harmony needs to learn to adhere to the following practices:

• self-control - it is important to learn to resist your addictions and control them;
• the ability to analyze committed actions and draw conclusions based on them - this allows you to understand your true desire, make your actions responsible and conscious;
• the ability to analyze one's thoughts.

Now you know what it means to form a harmonious personality. As you can see, a person must strive for harmony with his inner, spiritual world and everything that surrounds him. Try to change your life for the better, strive for harmony.

The evolution of the concept of success in American society. Formation of the "American Dream"

On July 4, 1776, an event occurred that had a huge impact on the whole world: the Declaration of Independence of the North American states was signed. Their independence from Great Britain was proclaimed and a new state was formed - the United States of America. And the very first state document proclaimed the equality of all people, their right to choose and change their government, their right to freedom and happiness: “... all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, people create governments that derive their legitimate power from the consent of the governed. If any form of government becomes injurious to these purposes, the people have the right to alter or abolish it, and to establish a new government, founded on such principles and forms of government as, in their judgment, will best secure the safety and happiness of the people. Of course, prudence requires that governments established from ancient times should not be changed by unimportant and fleeting circumstances; accordingly, all past experience confirms that men are more disposed to endure vices as long as they can be tolerated, than to exercise their right to abolish the forms of government which have become familiar to them. But when a long series of abuses and violences, invariably subordinated to the same purpose, testify to the insidious design of compelling the people to submit to unlimited despotism, the overthrow of such a government and the creation of new guarantees of security for the future becomes the right and duty of the people.

This led to the activation of the creative potential of the individual. The so-called “American Dream” began to take shape. The quintessential American Dream is the idea that every person with ability, energy and hard work can achieve success in life through honest means and become a respected and wealthy person. Frank Lantz, in The New Hope of American Life, argues that Americans, more than other peoples, believe that a person's success depends on his personal ability and honest work, and not on his original membership in a particular social class or group. The United States was once perceived by Europeans as a unique country without kings or nobility, a society that was unstructured and governed by class differences. The United States has never had an official religion, and religious tolerance has always flourished, which also distinguishes the United States from most other countries in the world. Hundreds and thousands of formal and informal laws, traditions and customs do not constrain the lives of Americans. Thus, the US citizen received freedom of self-expression, creativity and entrepreneurship unprecedented in the rest of the world. It was in the 19th century that the United States began to be called “the land of the free,” and this definition did not come from the Americans themselves.

In the second half of the 19th century, prolific pulp novelist Horashio Alger brought the concept of the “American Dream” from the religious and philosophical sphere to the sphere of popular culture. In his novels, bootblacks became millionaires, and the old fairy tale about Cinderella, who found happiness only through a happy marriage, took on a new meaning. During the 1870s and 1900s, the United States became an industrialized nation and the world's leading industrial power. Some entrepreneurs (sometimes called “robber barons”) demonstrated that Alger was right by personal example and became true symbols of the “American Dream.” For example, the famous industrialist Andrew Carnegie was an immigrant, came from a poor family, received virtually no systematic education, but thanks to his own perseverance, talent and hard work, he first became the “captain” of the American economy, and then a world-class politician and major philanthropist. The advent of people like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and others further strengthened the American belief that anyone can achieve prosperity in life through honest means.

The phrase “American Dream” itself came from the pen of historian James Truslow Adams, who published the book “The American Age” in 1931. That year, the United States was experiencing a severe economic crisis - the Great Depression. Adams asked the publisher to call the book "The American Dream", but the publisher refused, saying that a true American would never spend $3.50 to buy a dream. Adams objected, noting that a real American is always ready to spend every last penny on a dream, but the publisher insisted on his own. Adams described the American Dream this way: “It is the dream of a country where life is richer and richer for everyone. Where everyone has equal opportunities and can fully realize themselves if they wish.” The American Dream is not only the hope of a high salary, but also a society in which everyone can achieve the highest results and find recognition. This dream is difficult to achieve, and many of us are tired of it and don't trust it. Since the book went on sale, the term “American Dream” has firmly entered the American lexicon. Historian Louis Decker, author of Made in America, concluded that Adams' book came at the right time and in the right place. Americans needed soul-searching, inspiration, and a breath of optimism—Adams's phrase turned out to be exactly the medicine the country needed. Despite the many upheavals the United States has endured in recent decades, the dream has endured. It has acquired new shades, for example, among US residents there is an opinion that a strong and friendly family with several children is simply necessary. Such a family should live in their own home, among good neighbors, surrounded by pets and have a car. American researchers Thomas Stanley and William Danku, authors of the book “The Millionaire Next Door,” found that most millionaires in the United States lead a lifestyle that is not very different from the lifestyle of most Americans. They prefer to buy inexpensive clothes and cars and do not spend much on luxury goods and entertainment. There are only a few exceptions to this rule: for example, the wives of half of millionaires do not work (in the vast majority of American families, both spouses work).

However, the modern definition of the American Dream, as given in William Safire's New Political Dictionary (Random House. New York, 1993), is still very apologetic: “The American Dream is the ideal of freedom or opportunity that was formulated by the Founding Fathers; spiritual strength of the nation. If the American system is the skeleton of American politics, then the American Dream is its soul.” However, most political scientists agree that it is difficult to clearly define this very vague term. “The American dream,” writes, for example, the historian F. Carpenter, “has never been precisely defined and, apparently, never will be. It is both too diverse and too vague: different people give different meanings to this concept. On the one hand, its worldly, material component is obvious, connecting the American dream with the ethics of success: Gatsby’s tragedy is that his romantic illusions are associated with the so-called “American dream”, subordinated to the idea of ​​material success...” (TSB); What is the American dream? This is a dream about making more money. American materialistic philosophy is becoming the dominant doctrine for the modern world, etc. On the other hand, achieving success (including material) here is always associated with hard work. So what is the American dream? Work until you sweat and become a millionaire. The American Dream is a path from poverty to luxury through perseverance, hard work, effort, etc.

The American Dream is the idea that anyone with ability, energy, and hard work who earns success through honest means can succeed in life. Most modern philosophers who have analyzed the phenomenon of the American dream come to the conclusion that it is based on the principle of individual freedom - freedom of self-expression, creativity and entrepreneurship. In other words, this completely “worldly” dream of material abundance is based on some ideal vision of life, “a national ideal where each ethnic group is free to live, think and act as much as its abilities and desires allow.”

Thus, the area of ​​attention in the concept of “success” has finally shifted to the personal qualities of the individual.