The self-renewal process is a pillar for personal (psychical, spiritual, emotional, physical) strength development, needed to cope, maintain, and cultivate through the ever continuous changes of life, career, family, and health. The process requires an openness, honesty, and willingness for behavioral modification (change).
Self-renewal is a participative (attentive) process for well-being demanding action. Definiteness of purpose, the starting point of all achievement in personal development, asks us to write down an inventory of our current, past, and future objectively to aid our personal success through clarity of vision. Factors that contribute to self-renewal are (self) motivation, belief, self-awareness, and goals. These ingredients are necessary to determine where we are and where we want to go.
What are my goals? How do my goals and dreams fit into the circumstances of my life at this moment? What needs to change to achieve my goals? What supportive person (s) can I share these goals with? Personally, I choose to keep goals private and allow the consequences to develop organically.
Coaching (counseling) is important to nurture and cultivate goals but being selective on who I choose to share allows for self-discovery, adjustment (course correction), and implementation.
Reflection and isolation benefit a person committed to self-renewal. It is a time to be honest and critical for improvement (behavior change). The key is to eliminate distractions and focus on yourself and priorities. Change affects those around us, so self-awareness, communication, mindfulness are needed to execute the change with cooperation of others.
The self-renewal process influences the role of a counselor in a ministry setting who practice holistic spiritual wellness principles by understanding the dynamic stages (process) of change from denial to acceptance experienced by self and others.
Listening for understanding instead of listening to be understood, gives the Christian helper influence in suggesting a change of behavior that encourages, inspires, and promotes growth. According to Lynn et al., (2014), mental health providers (Counselors) only oriented toward finding and modifying disorder instead of promoting health and optimizing human potential find this strategy useful which can be applied in multiple (ministry) settings.
The Holistic Flow Model of Spiritual Wellness proposed in Purdy and Supey (2005), is a conceptualization of spiritual health and well-being, that has implications for clinical practice and research. The model uniquely places the spirit at the center of life.
A fluid vision of the spirit whose components are belief in a universal force, making meaning of life and of death, connectedness, faith, and movement toward compassion its primary focus (Purdy & Supey, 2005). Thus, self-renewal is a participative (attentive) process for well-being demanding personal action.
References
Lynn, S. J., O’Donohue, W. T., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (Ed.). (2014). Health, happiness, and well-being: Better living through psychological science. Sage Publications. ISBN-13: 9781452203171
Purdy, M., & Supey, P. (2005). Holistic Flow Model of Spiritual Wellness. Counseling & Values, 49(2), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007X.2005.tb00256.x
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