City metropolis in Masovia, Poland

City metropolis in Masovia, Poland

Warsaw

Warszawa

Paris of the North, Phoenix City

Location within Poland

Location within Europe

(30 June 2018)

00-001 to 04999

Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa [varava] (listen); see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland and its population is officially estimated at 1.770million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.1million residents,[4] which makes Warsaw the 8th most-populous capital city in the European Union. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres (199.6sqmi), while the metropolitan area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres (2,355.39sqmi).[5] Warsaw is an alpha global city,[6] a major international tourist destination, and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. Its historical Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Once described as the 'Paris of the North', Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II.[7] Bombed at the start of the German invasion in 1939, the city withstood a siege for which it was later awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari.[8][9][10] Deportations of the Jewish population to concentration camps led to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the destruction of the Ghetto after a month of combat. A general Warsaw Uprising between August and October 1944 led to even greater devastation and systematic razing by the Germans in advance of the VistulaOder Offensive. Warsaw gained the new title of Phoenix City because of its extensive history and complete reconstruction after World War II, which had left over 85% of its buildings in ruins.[11][12]

Warsaw is one of Europe's most dynamic metropolitan cities.[13] In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world.[14] In 2017 the city came 4th in the "Business-friendly" category and 8th in "Human capital and life style".[13] It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central and Eastern Europe.

The city is a significant centre of research and development, Business process outsourcing, Information technology outsourcing, as well as of the Polish media industry. The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe.[15][16] Frontex, the European Union agency for external border security as well as ODIHR, one of the principal institutions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have their headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union.[17]

The city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Warsaw, the Warsaw Polytechnic, the National Museum, the Great TheatreNational Opera, the largest of its kind in the world,[18] and the Zachta National Gallery of Art. The picturesque Old Town of Warsaw, which represents examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period,[19] was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. Other main architectural attractions include the Castle Square with the Royal Castle and the iconic King Sigismund's Column, the Wilanw Palace, the azienki Palace, St. John's Cathedral, Main Market Square, palaces, churches and mansions all displaying a richness of colour and detail. Warsaw is positioning itself as Central and Eastern Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and serious restaurants,[20] with around a quarter of the city's area occupied by parks.[21]

Warsaw's name in the Polish language is Warszawa (also formerly spelled Warszewa and Warszowa). Other previous spellings of the name may have included Worszewa and Werszewa.[22][23] According to some sources,[24] the origin of the name is unknown. In Pre-Slavic toponomastic layer of Northern Mazovia: corrections and addenda (the Narew drainage),[25] it is stated that the toponymy of northern Mazovia tends to have unclear etymology (p.30). Originally, Warszawa was the name of a fishing village. According to one theory Warszawa means "belonging to Warsz", Warsz being a shortened form of the masculine name of Slavic origin Warcisaw; see also etymology of Wrocaw.[26] However the ending -awa is unusual for a big city; the names of Polish cities derived from personal names usually ending in -w/owo/ew/ewo (e.g. Piotrkw, Adamw) while the -av- in the early name of Wrocaw is part of a personal name. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, and his wife, Sawa. According to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love.[27] In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the modern-day site of the Mariensztat neighbourhood.[28] See also the Vrovci family which had escaped to Poland. The official city name in full is miasto stoeczne Warszawa ("The Capital City of Warsaw").[29] A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin (male), warszawianka (female), warszawiacy, and warszawianie (plural).

Other names for Warsaw include Varsovia (Latin, Spanish) and Varsvia (Portuguese), Varsovie (French), Varsavia (Italian), Warschau (German, Dutch), /Varshe (Yiddish), Varuva (Lithuanian), Vars (Hungarian) and Varava (Czech)

The first fortified settlements on the site of today's Warsaw were located in Brdno (9th/10th century) and Jazdw (12th/13th century).[30] After Jazdw was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa. The Prince of Pock, Bolesaw II of Masovia, established this settlement, the modern-day Warsaw, in about 1300. In the beginning of the 14th century it became one of the seats of the Dukes of Masovia, becoming the official capital of the Masovian Duchy in 1413.[30] 14th-century Warsaw's economy rested on mostly crafts and trade. Upon the extinction of the local ducal line, the duchy was reincorporated into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in 1526.[30]

In 1529, Warsaw for the first time became the seat of the General Sejm, permanently from 1569.[30] In 1573 the city gave its name to the Warsaw Confederation, formally establishing religious freedom in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. Due to its central location between the Commonwealth's capitals of Krakw and Vilnius, Warsaw became the capital of the Commonwealth and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland when King Sigismund III Vasa moved his court from Krakw to Warsaw in 1596.[30]In the following years the town expanded towards the suburbs. Several private independent districts were establishedthe property of aristocrats and the gentry, which they ruled by their own laws. Three times between 1655 and 1658 the city was under siege, and three times it was taken and pillaged by the Swedish, Brandenburgian and Transylvanian forces.[30][31]

In 1700, the Great Northern War broke out. The city was besieged several times and was obliged to pay heavy tribute.[32] Warsaw turned into an early-capitalist city. The reign of Augustus II and Augustus III was a time of development for Warsaw. The Saxon monarchs brought many renowned German architects, who rebuilt the city in a style similar to Dresden. In 1747 the Zauski Library was established, the first Polish public library and the largest at the time.[33]

Stanisaw II Augustus, who remodelled the interior of the Royal Castle, also made Warsaw a centre of culture and the arts.[34][35] He extended the Royal Baths Park and ordered the construction or refurbishment of numerous palaces, mansions and richly-decorated tenements. This earned Warsaw the nickname Paris of the East.[36]

Warsaw remained the capital of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the third and final partition of Poland;[37] it subsequently became the capital of the province of South Prussia.

Liberated by Napoleon's army in 1806, Warsaw was made the capital of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw.[30] Following the Congress of Vienna of 1815, Warsaw became the centre of Congress Poland, a constitutional monarchy under a personal union with Imperial Russia.[30] The Royal University of Warsaw was established in 1816.

Following repeated violations of the Polish constitution by the Russians, the 1830 November uprising broke out. But the Polish-Russian war of 1831 ended in the uprising's defeat and in the curtailment of the Kingdom's autonomy.[30] On 27 February 1861 a Warsaw crowd protesting against Russian rule over Poland was fired upon by Russian troops.[38][39] Five people were killed. The Underground Polish National Government resided in Warsaw during the January Uprising in 186364.[39]

Warsaw flourished in the late 19th century under Mayor Sokrates Starynkiewicz (187592), a Russian-born general appointed by Tsar Alexander III. Under Starynkiewicz Warsaw saw its first water and sewer systems designed and built by the English engineer William Lindley and his son, William Heerlein Lindley, as well as the expansion and modernisation of trams, street lighting, and gas infrastructure.[30]

The Russian Empire Census of 1897 recorded 626,000 people living in Warsaw, making it the third-largest city of the Empire after St. Petersburg and Moscow.[40]

Warsaw was occupied by Germany from 4 August 1915 until November 1918. The Allied Armistice terms required in Article 12 that Germany withdraw from areas controlled by Russia in 1914, which included Warsaw.[41] Germany did so, and underground leader Pisudski returned to Warsaw on 11 November and set up what became the Second Polish Republic, with Warsaw as the capital. In the course of the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920, the huge Battle of Warsaw was fought on the eastern outskirts of the city in which the capital was successfully defended and the Red Army defeated. Poland stopped the full brunt of the Red Army by itself and defeated the idea of the "export of the revolution".[42]

The history of contemporary civilisation knows no event of greater importance than the Battle of Warsaw, 1920, and none of which the significance is less appreciated ... yet never had Poland's services been greater, never had the danger been more imminent.

The rednicowy Bridge was constructed for a railway (19211931), connecting both parts of the city. Warszawa Gwna railway station (19321939) was unfinished and destroyed during WWII.

Stefan Starzyski was the Mayor of Warsaw 19341939; he was murdered by the Nazis in December 1939.

After the German Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the Second World War, Warsaw was defended until 27 September. Central Poland, including Warsaw, came under the rule of the General Government, a German Nazi colonial administration. All higher education institutions were immediately closed and Warsaw's entire Jewish population several hundred thousand, some 30% of the city were herded into the Warsaw Ghetto.[45] The city would become the centre of urban resistance to Nazi rule in occupied Europe.[46] When the order came to annihilate the ghetto as part of Hitler's "Final Solution" on 19 April 1943, Jewish fighters launched the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.[47] Despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered, the Ghetto held out for almost a month.[47] When the fighting ended, almost all survivors were massacred, with only a few managing to escape or hide.[47][48]

By July 1944, the Red Army was deep into Polish territory and pursuing the Germans toward Warsaw.[50] Knowing that Stalin was hostile to the idea of an independent Poland, the Polish government-in-exile in London gave orders to the underground Home Army (AK) to try to seize control of Warsaw from the Germans before the Red Army arrived. Thus, on 1 August 1944, as the Red Army was nearing the city, the Warsaw uprising began.[50] The armed struggle, planned to last 48 hours, was partially successful, however it went on for 63 days. Eventually the Home Army fighters and civilians assisting them were forced to capitulate.[50] They were transported to PoW camps in Germany, while the entire civilian population was expelled.[50] Polish civilian deaths are estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000.[51]

The Germans then razed Warsaw to the ground. Hitler, ignoring the agreed terms of the capitulation, ordered the entire city to be razed to the ground and the library and museum collections taken to Germany or burned.[50] Monuments and government buildings were blown up by special German troops known as Verbrennungs- und Vernichtungskommando ("Burning and Destruction Detachments").[50] About 85% of the city had been destroyed, including the historic Old Town and the Royal Castle.[52]

On 17 January 1945 after the beginning of the VistulaOder Offensive of the Red Army Soviet troops and Polish troops of the First Polish Army entered the ruins of Warsaw, and liberated Warsaw's suburbs from German occupation.[53] The city was swiftly taken by the Soviet Army, which rapidly advanced towards d, as German forces regrouped at a more westward position.

In 1945, after the bombings, revolts, fighting, and demolition had ended, most of Warsaw lay in ruins.

After World War II, under a Communist regime set up by the conquering Soviets, the "Bricks for Warsaw" campaign was initiated, and large prefabricated housing projects were erected in Warsaw to address the housing shortage, along with other typical buildings of an Eastern Bloc city, such as the Palace of Culture and Science, a "gift" from the Soviet Union. The city resumed its role as the capital of Poland and the country's centre of political and economic life. Many of the historic streets, buildings, and churches were restored to their original form. In 1980, Warsaw's historic Old Town was inscribed onto UNESCO's World Heritage list.[54]

John Paul II's visits to his native country in 1979 and 1983 brought support to the budding "Solidarity" movement and encouraged the growing anti-communist fervor there.[55] In 1979, less than a year after becoming pope, John Paul celebrated Mass in Victory Square in Warsaw and ended his sermon with a call to "renew the face" of Poland: Let Thy Spirit descend! Let Thy Spirit descend and renew the face of the land! This land![55] These words were very meaningful for the Polish citizens who understood them as the incentive for liberal-democratic reforms.[55]

In 1995, the Warsaw Metro opened with a single line. A second line was opened in March 2015.[56] With the entry of Poland into the European Union in 2004, Warsaw is currently experiencing the largest economic boom of its history.[57] The opening fixture of UEFA Euro 2012 took place in Warsaw, a game in which Poland drew 11 with Greece.[58] Warsaw was the host city for the 2013 United Nations Climate Change Conference and for the 2016 NATO Summit.

Warsaw lies in east-central Poland about 300km (190mi) from the Carpathian Mountains and about 260km (160mi) from the Baltic Sea, 523km (325mi) east of Berlin, Germany.[59] The city straddles the Vistula River. It is located in the heartland of the Masovian Plain, and its average elevation is 100 metres (330ft) above sea level. The highest point on the left side of the city lies at a height of 115.7 metres (379.6ft) ("Redutowa" bus depot, district of Wola), on the right side 122.1 metres (400.6ft) ("Groszwka" estate, district of Wesoa, by the eastern border). The lowest point lies at a height 75.6 metres (248.0ft) (at the right bank of the Vistula, by the eastern border of Warsaw). There are some hills (mostly artificial) located within the confines of the city e.g. Warsaw Uprising Hill (121 metres (397.0ft)) and Szczliwice hill (138 metres (452.8ft) the highest point of Warsaw in general).

Warsaw is located on two main geomorphologic formations: the plain moraine plateau and the Vistula Valley with its asymmetrical pattern of different terraces. The Vistula River is the specific axis of Warsaw, which divides the city into two parts, left and right. The left one is situated both on the moraine plateau (10 to 25m (32.8 to 82.0ft) above Vistula level) and on the Vistula terraces (max. 6.5m (21.3ft) above Vistula level). The significant element of the relief, in this part of Warsaw, is the edge of moraine plateau called Warsaw Escarpment. It is 20 to 25m (65.6 to 82.0ft) high in the Old Town and Central district and about 10m (32.8ft) in the north and south of Warsaw. It goes through the city and plays an important role as a landmark.

The plain moraine plateau has only a few natural and artificial ponds and also groups of clay pits. The pattern of the Vistula terraces is asymmetrical. The left side consists mainly of two levels: the highest one contains former flooded terraces and the lowest one the flood plain terrace. The contemporary flooded terrace still has visible valleys and ground depressions with water systems coming from the old Vistula riverbed. They consist of still quite natural streams and lakes as well as the pattern of drainage ditches. The right side of Warsaw has a different pattern of geomorphological forms. There are several levels of the Vistula plain terraces (flooded as well as formerly flooded), and only a small part is a not so visible moraine escarpment. Aeolian sand with a number of dunes parted by peat swamps or small ponds cover the highest terrace. These are mainly forested areas (pine forest).

Officially, Warsaw experiences an oceanic climate, denoted by Cfb by Kppen's original classification.[60][61] But the city being in the midst of Siberian air mass and far from the coast has clear continental influences (Dfb), defined as such with old data.[62][63][64][65] By classification of the Wincenty Okoowicz has a warm-temperate climate in the center of continental Europe with the "fusion" of different features.[66] The city has cold, snowy, cloudy winters and warm, sunny, stormy summers. Spring and autumn can be unpredictable, highly prone to sudden weather changes; however, temperatures are usually mild and with low humidity, especially around May and September.[62] The average temperature ranges between 1.8C (29F) in January and 19.2C (66.6F) in July. The mean year temperature is 8.5C (47.3F). Temperatures may often reach 30C (86F) in the summer, although the effects of hot weather are usually offset by relatively low dew points and large diurnal temperature differences.[citation needed] Warsaw is Europe's sixth driest city (third in Eastern Europe), with yearly rainfall averaging 529 millimetres (20.8in), the wettest month being July.[67]

Warsaw's mixture of architectural styles reflects the turbulent history of the city and country. During the Second World War, Warsaw was razed to the ground by bombing raids and planned destruction.[50] After liberation, rebuilding began as in other cities of the communist-ruled People's Republic of Poland. Most of the historical buildings were thoroughly reconstructed. However, some of the buildings from the 19th century that had been preserved in reasonably reconstructible form were nonetheless eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. Kronenberg Palace).[71][72] Mass residential blocks were erected, with basic design typical of Eastern Bloc countries.

Public spaces attract heavy investment, so that the city has gained entirely new squares, parks and monuments. Warsaw's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture.[73]

Warsaw's palaces, churches and mansions display a richness of color and architectural details. Buildings are representatives of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. The city has wonderful examples of architecture from the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and neoclassical periods, all of which are located within easy walking distance of the town centre.

Gothic architecture is represented in the majestic churches but also at the burgher houses and fortifications. The most significant buildings are St. John's Cathedral (14th century), a typical example of the so-called Masovian Gothic style; St. Mary's Church (1411), a town house of Burbach family (14th century);[74] Gunpowder Tower (after 1379); and the Royal Castle Curia Maior (14071410). The most notable examples of Renaissance architecture in the city are the house of the Baryczko merchant family (1562), a building called "The Negro" (early 17th century), and Salwator tenement (1632). The most interesting examples of Mannerist architecture are the Royal Castle (15961619) and the Jesuit Church (16091626) at Old Town. Among the first structures of the early Baroque, the most important are St. Hyacinth's Church (16031639) and Sigismund's Column (1644).

Building activity occurred in numerous noble palaces and churches during the later decades of the 17th century. Some of the best examples of this architecture are Krasiski Palace (16771683), Wilanw Palace (16771696) and St. Kazimierz Church (16881692). The most impressive examples of rococo architecture are Czapski Palace (17121721), Palace of the Four Winds (1730s) and Visitationist Church (faade 17281761). The neoclassical architecture in Warsaw can be described by the simplicity of the geometrical forms teamed with a great inspiration from the Roman period. Some of the best examples of the neoclassical style are the Palace on the Water (rebuilt 17751795), Krlikarnia (17821786), Carmelite Church (faade 17611783) and Evangelical Holy Trinity Church (17771782). The economic growth during the first years of Congress Poland caused a rapid rise of architecture. The Neoclassical revival affected all aspects of architecture; the most notable examples are the Great Theater (18251833) and buildings located at Bank Square (18251828).

Exceptional examples of the bourgeois architecture of the later periods were not restored by the communist authorities after the war (like the previously mentioned Kronenberg Palace and insurance company Rosja building) or they were rebuilt in socialist realism style (like Warsaw Philharmony edifice originally inspired by Palais Garnier in Paris). Despite that, the Warsaw University of Technology building (18991902)[75] is the most interesting of the late 19th-century architecture. Some 19th-century buildings in the Praga district (the Vistula's right bank) have been restored although many have been poorly maintained. Warsaw's municipal government authorities have decided to rebuild the Saxon Palace and the Brhl Palace, the most distinctive buildings in prewar Warsaw.[76]

Notable examples of post-war architecture include the Palace of Culture and Science (19521955), a soc-realist skyscraper located in the city centre, and the Constitution Square with its monumental socialist realism architecture (MDM estate).[77]

Contemporary architecture in Warsaw is represented by the Metropolitan Office Building at Pilsudski Square by Norman Foster,[78] Warsaw University Library (BUW) by Marek Budzyski and Zbigniew Badowski, featuring a garden on its roof and view of the Vistula River, Rondo 1 office building by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Museum of the History of Polish Jews by Rainer Mahlamki and Golden Terraces, consisting of seven overlapping domes retail and business centre.

It has been said that Warsaw, together with Frankfurt, London, Paris and Rotterdam, is one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in Europe.[17] Warsaw is ranked as 79th in the list of cities with the most skyscrapers around the world.[79]

Although contemporary Warsaw is a fairly young city, it has numerous tourist attractions. Apart from the Warsaw Old Town quarter, reconstructed after World War II, each borough has something to offer. Among the most notable landmarks of the Old Town are the Royal Castle, King Sigismund's Column, Market Square, and the Barbican.

Further south is the so-called Royal Route, with many classicist palaces, the Presidential Palace and the University of Warsaw campus. Wilanw Palace, the former royal residence of King John III Sobieski, is notable for its Baroque architecture and parks.[80]

Warsaw's oldest public park, the Saxon Garden, is located within 10 minutes' walk from the old town.[81] Warsaw's biggest public park is the azienki Park, also called the "Royal Baths Park", established in the 17th century and given its current classical shape in the late 18th century.[82] It is located further south, on the Royal Route, about 3km (1.9mi) from the Warsaw Old Town.

Powzki Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Europe,[83] full of sculptures, some of them by the most renowned Polish artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Since it serves the religious communities of Warsaw such as Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims or Protestants, it is often called a necropolis. Nearby is the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe.

In many places in the city the Jewish culture and history resonates down through time.[84] Among them the most notable are the Jewish theater, the Noyk Synagogue, Janusz Korczak's Orphanage and the picturesque Prna Street.[84] The tragic pages of Warsaw's history are commemorated in places such as the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, the Umschlagplatz, fragments of the Ghetto wall on Sienna Street and a mound in memory of the Jewish Combat Organization.[84]

There are also many places commemorating the heroic history of Warsaw.[85] Pawiak, an infamous German Gestapo prison now occupied by a Mausoleum of Memory of Martyrdom and the museum, is only the beginning of a walk in the traces of Heroic City.[85] The Warsaw Citadel, an impressive 19th-century fortification built after the defeat of the November uprising, was a place of martyrdom for the Poles.[85] Another important monument, the statue of Little Insurrectionist located at the ramparts of the Old Town, commemorates the children who served as messengers and frontline troops in the Warsaw Uprising, while the impressive Warsaw Uprising Monument by Wincenty Kuma was erected in memory of the largest insurrection of World War II.[85][86]

In Warsaw there are many places connected with the life and work of Frdric Chopin. The heart of the Polish-born composer is sealed inside Warsaw's Holy Cross Church.[87] During the summer time the Chopin Statue in azienki Park is a place where pianists give concerts to the park audience.[88]

Also many references to Marie Curie, her work and her family can be found in Warsaw: Marie's birthplace at the Warsaw New Town, the working places where she did her first scientific works[89] and the Radium Institute at Wawelska Street for the research and the treatment of which she founded in 1925.[90]

Green space covers almost a quarter of the area of Warsaw,[91] including a broad range from small neighborhood parks, green spaces along streets and in courtyards, to avenues of trees and large historic parks, nature conservation areas and the urban forests at the fringe of the city.

There are as many as 82 parks in the city which cover 8% of its area.[92] The oldest ones, once parts of representative palaces, are Saxon Garden, the Krasiski Palace Garden, azienki Park (Royal Baths Park), Wilanw Palace Park and Krlikarnia Palace Park (See also: Greenery in the city).

The Saxon Garden, covering an area of 15.5 ha, was formally a royal garden. There are over 100 different species of trees and the avenues are a place to sit and relax. At the east end of the park, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is situated. In the 19th century the Krasiski Palace Garden was remodelled by Franciszek Szanior. Within the central area of the park one can still find old trees dating from that period: maidenhair tree, black walnut, Turkish hazel and Caucasian wingnut trees. With its benches, flower carpets, a pond with ducks on and a playground for kids, the Krasiski Palace Garden is a popular strolling destination for the Varsovians. The Monument of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is also situated here. azienki Park covers an area of 76 ha. The unique character and history of the park is reflected in its landscape architecture (pavilions, sculptures, bridges, water cascades, ponds) and vegetation (domestic and foreign species of trees and bushes). What makes this park different from other green spaces in Warsaw is the presence of peacocks and pheasants, which can be seen here walking around freely, and royal carp in the pond. Wilanw Palace Park dates back to the second half of the 17th century. It covers an area of 43 ha. Its central French-styled area corresponds to the ancient, Baroque forms of the palace. The eastern section of the park, closest to the Palace, is the two-level garden with a terrace facing the pond. The park around the Krlikarnia Palace is situated on the old escarpment of the Vistula. The park has lanes running on a few levels deep into the ravines on both sides of the palace.

Other green spaces in the city include the Botanic Garden and the University Library garden. They have extensive botanical collection of rare domestic and foreign plants, while a palm house in the New Orangery displays plants of subtropics from all over the world.[93] Besides, within the city borders, there are also: Pole Mokotowskie (a big park in the northern Mokotw, where was the first horse racetrack and then the airport), Park Ujazdowski (close to the Sejm and John Lennon street), Park of Culture and Rest in Powsin, by the southern city border, and Park Skaryszewski by the right Vistula bank, in Praga. The oldest park in Praga, the Praga Park, was established in 18651871 and designed by Jan Dobrowolski.[94] In 1927 a zoological garden (Ogrd Zoologiczny) was established on the park grounds,[95] and in 1952 a bear run, still open today.

The flora of the city may be considered very rich in species. The species richness is mainly due to the location of Warsaw within the border region of several big floral regions comprising substantial proportions of close-to-wilderness areas (natural forests, wetlands along the Vistula) as well as arable land, meadows and forests. Bielany Forest, located within the borders of Warsaw, is the remaining part of the Masovian Primeval Forest. Bielany Forest nature reserve is connected with Kampinos Forest.[96] It is home to rich fauna and flora. Within the forest there are three cycling and walking trails. Another big forest area is Kabaty Forest by the southern city border. Warsaw has also two botanic gardens: by azienki park (a didactic-research unit of the University of Warsaw) as well as by the Park of Culture and Rest in Powsin (a unit of the Polish Academy of Science).

There are 13 natural reserves in Warsaw among others, Bielany Forest, Kabaty Woods, and Czerniakw Lake. About 15 kilometres (9 miles) from Warsaw, the Vistula river's environment changes strikingly and features a perfectly preserved ecosystem, with a habitat of animals that includes the otter, beaver and hundreds of bird species.[97] There are also several lakes in Warsaw mainly the oxbow lakes, like Czerniakw Lake, the lakes in azienki or Wilanw Parks, and Kamionek Lake. There are many small lakes in the parks, but only a few are permanent the majority are emptied before winter to clean them of plants and sediments.

The Warsaw Zoo covers an area of 40 hectares (99 acres).[98] There are about 5,000 animals representing nearly 500 species.[98] Although officially created in 1928,[98] it traces back its roots to 17th century private menageries, often open to the public.[99][100]

Demographically, it was the most diverse city in Poland, with significant numbers of foreign-born inhabitants.[133] In addition to the Polish majority, there was a significant Jewish minority in Warsaw. According to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 638,000, Jews constituted 219,000 (around 34% percent).[134] Warsaw's prewar Jewish population of more than 350,000 constituted about 30 percent of the city's total population.[45] In 1933, out of 1,178,914 inhabitants 833,500 were of Polish mother tongue.[135] World War II changed the demographics of the city, and to this day there is much less ethnic diversity than in the previous 300 years of Warsaw's history.[45] Most of the modern day population growth is based on internal migration and urbanisation.

In 1939, c. 1,300,000 people lived in Warsaw,[136] but in 1945 only 420,000. During the first years after the war, the population growth was c. 6%, so shortly the city started to suffer from the lack of flats and of areas for new houses. The first remedial measure was the Warsaw area enlargement (1951) but the city authorities were still forced to introduce residency registration limitations: only the spouses and children of the permanent residents as well as some persons of public importance (like renowned specialists) were allowed to get the registration, hence halving the population growth in the following years. It also bolstered a stereotype popular among the dwellers of other cities claiming that average Varsovians thought of themselves as better only because they lived in the capital. While all restrictions on residency registration were scrapped in 1990, a negative image of a typical Warsaw inhabitant in some form persists till this day.[137][138]

Much like most capital cities in Europe, Warsaw boasts a foreign-born population that is significantly larger than in other cities, although not coming close to the figures representing the likes of Madrid or Rome. In 2016, it was estimated that 21,000 people living in Warsaw were foreign born, although some suspect the actual number could be as high as 60,000150,000,[139] or 1.2~3.4% 8.5% of all Varsovians. Of those, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, Byelorussians and Russians were the most prominent groups.[140]

Throughout its existence, Warsaw had been a multi-cultural city.[141] According to the 1901 census, out of 711,988 inhabitants 56.2% were Catholics, 35.7% Jews, 5% Greek Orthodox Christians and 2.8% Protestants.[142] Eight years later, in 1909, there were 281,754 Jews (36.9%), 18,189 Protestants (2.4%) and 2,818 Mariavites (0.4%).[143] This led to construction of hundreds of places of religious worship in all parts of the town. Most of them were destroyed in the aftermath of the Warsaw uprising of 1944. After the war, the new communist authorities of Poland discouraged church construction and only a small number were rebuilt.[144]

In the survey, conducted in 2010 by a team of sociologists from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyski University, 66% of the Warsaw residents declared themselves as believers and 6% as non-believers. 32% of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Warsaw attended masses and 34% of the faithful of the Warsaw-Praga diocese. The Eucharist was received by about 15% of the faithful.[citation needed]

As the capital of Poland, Warsaw is the political centre of the country. All state agencies are located there, including the Polish Parliament, the Presidential Office and the Supreme Court. In the Polish parliament the city and the area are represented by 31 MPs (out of 460). Additionally, Warsaw elects two MEPs (Members of the European Parliament).

The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Pose in Polish (literally 'Envoy'). It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm (Marszaek Sejmu).

The municipal government existed in Warsaw until World War II and was restored in 1990 (during the communist times, the National City Council Miejska Rada Narodowa governed in Warsaw). Since 1990, the system of city administration has been changed several times also as the result of the reform which restored powiats, cancelled in 1975. Finally, according to the Warsaw Act, the city is divided into 18 districts and forms one city powiat with a unified municipal government.[145]

The basic unit of territorial division in Poland is a commune (gmina).[146] A city is also a commune but with a city charter.[146] Both cities and communes are governed by a mayor but in the communes the mayor is vogt (wjt in Polish), however in the cities burmistrz. Some bigger cities obtain the entitlements, i.e. tasks and privileges, which are possessed by the units of the second level of the territorial division counties or powiats. An example of such entitlement is a car registration: a gmina cannot register cars, this is a powiat's task (i.e. a registration number depends on what powiat a car had been registered in, not the gmina). In this case we say "city county" or powiat grodzki. Such cities are for example Lublin, Krakw, Gdask, and Pozna. In Warsaw, its districts additionally have some of a powiat's entitlements like the already mentioned car registration. For example, the Wola district has its own evidence and the Ursynw district its own (and the cars from Wola have another type of registration number than those from Ursynw). But for instance the districts in Krakw do not have the entitlements of a powiat, so the registration numbers in Krakw are of the same type for all districts.

Legislative power in Warsaw is vested in a unicameral Warsaw City Council (Rada Miasta), which comprises 60 members.[145] Council members are elected directly every four years. Like most legislative bodies, the city council divides itself into committees which have the oversight of various functions of the city government.[145] Bills passed by a simple majority are sent to the mayor (the President of Warsaw), who may sign them into law. If the mayor vetoes a bill, the Council has 30 days to override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote.

Each of the 18 separate city districts has its own council (Rada dzielnicy).[145] Their duties are focused on aiding the President and the City Council, as well as supervising various municipal companies, city-owned property and schools. The head of each of the District Councils is named the Mayor (Burmistrz) and is elected by the local council from the candidates proposed by the President of Warsaw.

The mayor of Warsaw is called President. Generally, in Poland, the mayors of bigger cities are called presidents i.e. cities with over 100,000 people or that had a president before 1990. The first Warsaw President was Jan Andrzej Menich (16951696).[147] Between 1975 and 1990 the Warsaw presidents simultaneously led the Warsaw Voivode. Since 1990 the President of Warsaw had been elected by the city council.[148] In the years of 19941999 the mayor of the district Centrum automatically was designated as the President of Warsaw: the mayor of Centrum was elected by the district council of Centrum and the council was elected only by the Centrum residents. Since 2002 the President of Warsaw is elected by all of the citizens of Warsaw.[148]

The current President of Warsaw is Rafa Trzaskowski. The first president elected according these rules was Lech Kaczyski. When he was elected as the President of Polish Republic (December 2005) he resigned as mayor on the day before taking office.

Until 1994, there were 7 districts in Warsaw: rdmiecie, Praga Pnoc, Praga Poudnie, oliborz, Wola, Ochota, and Mokotw. Between 1994 and 2002, there were 11 districts: Centrum, Biaoka, Targwek, Rembertw, Wawer, Wilanw, Ursynw, Wochy, Ursus, Bemowo, and Bielany. In 2002, the town Wesoa was incorporated and the territorial division of Warsaw was established as follows:

Warsaw is a county (powiat), and is further divided into 18 districts (dzielnica),[150] each one with its own administrative body.[151] Each of the districts is customarily subdivided into several neighbourhoods which have no legal or administrative status. Warsaw has two historic neighbourhoods, called Old Town (Stare Miasto) and New Town (Nowe Miasto), in the borough of rdmiecie.[152]

In 2011, Warsaw was ranked the world's 46th most expensive city to live in.[153] It was classified as an alpha world city (also known as a "major global city that links economic regions into the world economy") by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network from Loughborough University, placing it on a par with cities such as Sydney, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Seoul.

Warsaw, especially its city centre (rdmiecie), is home not only to many national institutions and government agencies, but also to many domestic and international companies. In 2006, 304,016 companies were registered in the city.[154] Warsaw's ever-growing business community has been noticed globally, regionally, and nationally. MasterCard Emerging Market Index has noted Warsaw's economic strength and commercial center. Warsaw was ranked as the seventh-greatest emerging market. Foreign investors' financial participation in the city's development was estimated in 2002 at over 650million euros.

Warsaw produces 12% of Poland's national income,[155] which in 2008 was 305.1% of the Polish average per capita (or 160% of the European Union average). The Nominal GDP per capita in Warsaw amounted to PLN 134,000 in 2015 (c. 31,200 or $74,400 in PPP[156]).[157] Total nominal GDP of the city in 2010 amounted to 191.766 billion PLN, 111,696 PLN per capita, which was 301.1% of the Polish average. Warsaw leads East-Central Europe in foreign investment and in 2006, GDP growth met expectations with a level of 6.1%.[158] It also has one of the fastest growing economies, with GDP growth at 6.5 percent in 2007 and 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2008.[159]

At the same time the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in Poland, at around 4% in February 2015.[160] The city itself receives around 8,740,882,000 zotys in taxes and direct government grants.

Warsaw's first stock exchange was established in 1817 and continued trading until World War II. It was re-established in April 1991, following the end of the post-war communist control of the country and the reintroduction of a free-market economy.[161] Today, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) is, according to many indicators,[159] the largest market in the region, with 374 companies listed and total capitalization of 162,584 mln EUR as of 31 August 2009.[162] From 1991 until 2000, the stock exchange was, ironically, located in the building previously used as the headquarters of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).[163]

During Warsaw's reconstruction after World War II, the communist authorities decided that the city would become a major industrial centre. As a result, numerous large factories were built in and around the city. The largest were the Huta Warszawa Steel Works, the FSO car factory and the "Ursus" tractor factory.

As the communist economy deteriorated, these factories lost significance and most went bankrupt after 1989.[164][165] Today, the Arcelor Warszawa Steel mill (formerly Huta Warszawa) is the only major factory remaining.

The FSO Car Factory was established in 1951. A number of vehicles have been assembled there over the decades, including the Warszawa, Syrena, Fiat 125p (under license from Fiat, later renamed FSO 125p when the license expired) and the Polonez. The last two models listed were also sent abroad and assembled in a number of other countries, including Egypt and Colombia. In 1995 the factory was purchased by the South Korean car manufacturer Daewoo, which assembled the Tico, Espero, Nubia, Tacuma, Leganza, Lanos and Matiz there for the European market. In 2005 the factory was sold to AvtoZAZ, a Ukrainian car manufacturer which assembled the Chevrolet Aveo there. The license for the production of the Aveo expired in February 2011 and has not been renewed since. Currently the company is defunct.

The "Ursus" factory opened in 1893 and is still in operation. Throughout its history various machinery was assembled there, including motorcycles, military vehicles, trucks and buses; but since World War II it has produced only tractors.

The number of state-owned enterprises continues to decrease while the number of companies operating with foreign capital is on the rise, reflecting the continued shift towards a modern market-based economy.[164] The largest foreign investors are Coca-Cola Amatil and Metro AG.[164] Warsaw has the biggest concentration of electronics and high-tech industry in Poland, while the growing consumer market perfectly fosters the development of the food-processing industry.[164]

Warsaw holds some of the finest institutions of higher education in Poland. It is home to four major universities and over 62 smaller schools of higher education.[166] The overall number of students of all grades of education in Warsaw is almost 500,000 (29.2% of the city population; 2002). The number of university students is over 280,000.[167] Most of the reputable universities are public, but in recent years there has also been an upsurge in the number of private universities.

The University of Warsaw was established in 1816, when the partitions of Poland separated Warsaw from the oldest and most influential Polish academic center, in Krakw.[168] Warsaw University of Technology is the second academic school of technology in the country, and one of the largest in East-Central Europe, employing 2,000 professors.[169] Other institutions for higher education include the Medical University of Warsaw, the largest medical school in Poland and one of the most prestigious; the National Defence University, highest military academic institution in Poland; the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, the oldest and largest music school in Poland and one of the largest in Europe;[170] the Warsaw School of Economics, the oldest and most renowned economic university in the country;[171] the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, the largest agricultural university, founded in 1818;[172] and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the first private secular university in the country.

Warsaw has numerous libraries, many of which contain vast collections of historic documents. The most important library in terms of historic document collections is the National Library of Poland. The library holds 8.2million volumes in its collection.[173] Formed in 1928,[174] it sees itself as a successor to the Zauski Library, the biggest in Poland and one of the first and biggest libraries in the world.[174][175]

Another important library the University Library, founded in 1816,[176] is home to over two million items.[177] The building was designed by architects Marek Budzyski and Zbigniew Badowski and opened on 15 December 1999.[178] It is surrounded by green. The University Library garden, designed by Irena Bajerska, was opened on 12 June 2002. It is one of the largest and most beautiful roof gardens in Europe with an area of more than 10,000m2 (110,000sqft), and plants covering 5,111m2 (55,010sqft).[179] As the university garden it is open to the public every day.[179]

Warsaw has seen major infrastructural changes over the past few years amidst increased foreign investment, economic growth and EU funding. The city has a much improved infrastructure with new roads, flyovers, bridges, etc.[180]

Warsaw lacks a complete ring road system and most traffic goes directly through the city centre, leading to the eleventh highest level of congestion in Europe.[181] The Warsaw ring road has been planned to consist of three express roads: S2 (south), S8 (north-west) and S17 (east). Currently S8 and a part of S2 are open, with S2 to be finished by 2020[182].

The A2 motorway opened in June 2012, stretches west from Warsaw and is a direct motorway connection with d, Pozna and ultimately with Berlin.

The city has two international airports: Warsaw Chopin Airport, located just 10 kilometres (6.2mi) from the city centre, and Warsaw-Modlin Airport, located 35 kilometres (22mi) to the north, opened in July 2012. With around 100 international and domestic flights a day and with 15 500 000 passengers served in 2017, Warsaw Frdric Chopin Airport is by far the biggest airport in Poland and in Central-Eastern Europe.[183] and it has also been called "the most important and largest airport in Central Europe".[184]

Public transport in Warsaw includes buses, trams (streetcars), Metro, the light rail Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa line, urban railway Szybka Kolej Miejska, regional rail Koleje Mazowieckie (Mazovian Railways),[185] and bicycle sharing systems (Veturilo). The buses, trams, urban railway and Metro are managed by Zarzd Transportu Miejskiego (ZTM, the Warsaw Municipal Transport Authority).

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Warsaw - Wikipedia

The historic buildings merged into the modern, sky-reaching Warsaw. The academic area surrounded with a huge agricultural terrain. We are inviting you to Mazovia - the region of contracts and big opportunities.

We suggest to begin our excursion from Pock, the oldest town in the region. Pock is located in the middle of Mazovia, at the borderland of Kotlina Pocka and Pojezierze Dobrzyskie.The burg city, established on the slope above the Vistula River, used to be the seat of bishops, Mazovian dukes and Polish lords. It is an amazing place and as such it has been the inspiration for poets, painters and cameramen. Its magic is hidden in its unique beauty created by the history and the present.

In Putusk, only 60 kilometers away from Warsaw, inside the walls of the XVth c. Castle located on the brink of Puszcza Biaa, at the blue Narew- there is the Polonia House (now a beautiful hotel). The city is famous for the longest (380 kilometers) cobbled square in Europe.

elazowa Wola is a small town located in the Mazovian plateau, on the outskirts of Sochaczew. There is a beautiful manor the place where the world famous pianist and composer, Frederic Chopin, was born. The interior of the museum reflects the character of the epoch; however, the Chopins manor XIXth c. equipment has not survived till today.

The precincts of Grjec are the biggest fruit growing areas in Poland. They call this place the biggest orchard in Europe, and it is said that every third apple in Poland is grown Grjec. These apples are of unusual acidity and beautiful red color - the features ensured by the unique microclimate of the area.

The Zegrze Reservoir [Zalew Zegrzyski] is a place for recreation for Warsaw and neighboring citizens due to the many guest houses and water sport facilities located mainly in Zegrz, Zegrzynek, Biaobrzegi and Rynia. Around the water reservoir there are cycling paths.

Near Warsaw there is the Kampinos Forest [Puszcza Kampinoska] the Kampinos EnlargeNational Park [Kampinowski Park Narodowy] one of the most important forest complexes in Poland. In the forest growing on the sand dunes there live such wild animals as elks, lynxes, beavers and badgers.The Bug Landscape Park [Nadbuaski Park Narodowy], located in central-eastern part of the Mazowieckie Province, is characterized by the variety of landscape yet its most important value is the Bug valley, with many oxbow lakes and islands in the current and sandbanks and slopes. Circa 1/3 of the parks area is covered by forests - the remains of the old virgin forests. Other interesting places are the ruins of the old castles of Mazovian dukes in Ciechanw and Czersk, the stronghold in Modlin, the river basin of Narew or Konstancin Jeziorna - the beautiful health resort near Warsaw.

The Mazovian Lanscape consists of heights and plains, crossed out by the wide valleys of the queen of the Polish rivers the Vistula, the symbolic Bug river, the historic Bzura river, and picturesque rivers: Narew, Pilica and Wkra.

There are only a few, mainly post-glacial lakes, like the one near Gostynin and the lakes in the Pojezierze Dobrzynskie. The forests cover more than 20% of the area, where the green pines and long-lasting oaks predominate the landscape.

Link:
Mazowieckie Province

Program Description

Santa Barbara City College offers courses that provide opportunities for students to increase their potential for success, develop leadership competencies and management skills, and evaluate and plan their educational programs.

The college faculty believes strongly that students should take time early in their educational endeavors to develop a plan, seek information, and prepare themselves for a comprehensive program that is best suited to their interests, abilities and goals.

Personal Development courses at SBCC, as well as a diverse array of support services, allow the student to develop and organize his or her program of courses, co-curricular activities and use of support services to achieve desired career training, educational goals, life management skills and leadership skills.

Educational planning and academic skills development opportunities through Student Success, Educational Planning and College Search courses should be an essential part of every student's college curriculum, while specialized courses provide unique opportunities for leadership development.

All students, particularly those who are undecided or looking for possible new career directions, are urged to take advantage of Career Planning courses, services and professional guidance provided by the faculty and staff of the Career Advancement Center. Career planning courses and services also provide an opportunity to explore, choose and enter careers and professions.

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Personal Development - Santa Barbara City College

Setting goals is essential to a successful self-improvement journey. But where do you start? Here are a few examples of personal development goals to get you moving toward the right track.

Have you ever intended to spend less than 15 minutes on a small task, only to spend the first five looking for something in your office that you cant complete the task without? Believe it or not, this common problem is completely fixable.

If you are easily distracted by the mess in your office, it might be time to reorganize. Rearrange your furniture so you dont have to walk across your office to get to a particular shelf or cabinet. Keep your desk free of clutter and make sure you have adequate lighting, too, for better productivity.

This isnt as silly of a goal as it might sound. Pay better attention to how you talk with and respond to others in your life. Do you interrupt and talk over people without meaning to? Are you not as great of a listener as you may have thought? This is something you might do unintentionally, but its something you can work on.

It is important to know the most effective ways to communicate with the people around you, and a great goal to work toward both in your personal and professional life. Good communication is the key to a successful work and home environment.

Time management, or lack thereof, can mean the difference between a productive yet low-stress environment and a day so crammed with last-minute projects that you cant even let yourself enjoy a single minute of it.

Practice better time management techniques by learning how to prioritize your to-do lists and make better use of calendar and scheduling apps. With better time management skills, you will be able to get a lot more done with much higher quality results.

We still here over and over again that multi-tasking is the best way to get things done, but anyone who claims that theory to be true just isnt on the right track anymore. Mono-tasking is the new way to be productive, and the best time to start learning how is right now.

Choose one task at a time to work on. Only work on that one task for about an hour before taking a break. You can either go back to that task after your break or move on to a different one. The idea is not to jump between multiple smaller tasks at once, which is not good for our brains.

If procrastination isnt your worst enemy, youre lucky. We all struggle with it to some degree in different areas of our lives. When it comes to personal development, learning to manage our procrastination habits should be one of the first things on your list.

You have to stop procrastinating, at least to the point where its negatively impacting you or other people. Take that task that you want to do the least and get it done first. Eliminate those pesky distractions and get to work, so you can be stress free sooner.

If you arent good at managing your own stress, there will never be a good time to start learning how. It is one of those goals you simply have to decide to do, and start working on achieving right away.

Figure out which stress relief techniques work best for you. Ten short minutes of meditation? Yoga? Writing in a journal? The key is to find the best way to keep your stress levels under control and stick with it.

Think of how it feels whenever someone gives you a compliment. On the surface, it might feel a little embarrassing when someone calls attention to you. Deep down, though, compliments feel good. They reassure us that weve done something right today.

Though you might not like compliments all that much, internally, they can make a world of difference. You arent the only one who feels this way, either, which is why a good personal development goal is to try complimenting other people more often. Make someone else feel good: it will make you feel good, too.

The world doesnt revolve around you, and even without meaning to, you can give off the impression that you believe it does just by the way you phrase your sentences. It is tempting to use yourself as an example for every piece of commentary you offer up, but it isnt necessary.

Try using the word I less often, especially when dealing with confrontation with other people. Its hard to get this done when we arent staying on task sounds a lot less intimidating than, I cant get anything done when people arent paying attention. Focus less on you and more on the entire equation you are a part of.

As we dive further and further into the workforce, we tend to find there is a lot less time and energy left over from our jobs to put into personal projects we do on our own after work. Things like building our own bookshelves, putting together scrapbooks and other hobbies tend to fall between the cracks.

Make it a goal to focus on one personal project from start to finish. Dedicate a little bit of time each weekday or time over the weekends to work on that project until its done. We need these kinds of projects to keep us motivated and take our minds off of work.

No matter your goals, remember to make them specific. Its okay if they seem a little self-centered: these are personal goals, after all; theyre supposed to focus on you. Living the kind of life you have always wished you could live isnt as far off of a dream as you might have thought.

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9 Examples of Personal Development Goals - Self Thrive

If youre looking for ideas that can support you in your personaldevelopment journey, practical advice to guide you in your self-improvement and inspiration for your personal growth, then read on

Perhaps youre looking to build more confidence within yourself. Or perhaps youre wanting to discover a greater sense of purpose and deeper meaning to your life.

Or maybe youre starting to feel that the demands of a hectic lifestyle are creating stress for you and you are searching for ways to find greater peace-of-mind.

Self-development requires that you occasionally hit the pause button. You need to take some time to reflect on how youre living your life the choices you are making, the way you are feeling and the way you are behaving.

As you develop a deeper level of self awareness. you will find within you the keys to gaining a greater sense of control and direction in your life.

Some people do find that to further their quest for personal development and becoming a better person, they need to think about their past, and reflect on how some of their early life experiences may have shaped how they behave now.

Many of us carry different types of inner demons that feed self-doubt . Some of these demons arise from past experiences where our self-confidence has been seriously bruised and its left us feeling unsure of ourselves.

Self- development begins when we recognise that these past experiences which may have been painful at the time, carry within them the seeds of lessons that have the potential to make us a wiser person.

We do not have to re-live our past. Any mistakes we may have made in the past do not need to define who we are today. With improved self-understanding, we can free ourselves of unproductive patterns and instead start creating the life that we dream.

I would warmly invite you to have a look around our wide range of personal development pages, and maybe you might just find the inspiration and insights you need ..

Inspiration uplifting quotes, music and speakers

Self-Motivation great ideas on how to energise yourself

Self-Motivation Tips Ideas for overcoming procrastination

Building Self-Confidence developing self-belief

Mental toughness developing mental strength and stamina

Personal Leadership taking charge of your life

Assertiveness Tips stop being a people pleaser

Developing Assertiveness by building your self-esteem

Stress Management Tips dealing positively with stress

Interview Tips present confidently at the job interview

Seven Success Habits the popular Steven Covey book

Life Purpose the search for meaning and purpose in life

Career Planning what sort of job do you want in the future?

Focus the ability to concentrate on what needs to be done

Self-esteem self-worth as your foundation for being happy

Business Management thinking of starting up a smallbusiness?

Personal Change when you say enough is enough

How to Flourish and Be Happy what positive psychology can teach us about wellness

Habit Change how to change an unhelpful behaviour youre doing on auto-pilot

Here are some powerful words from Steve Jobs, a courageous pioneer in technology who of course became a giant in the world of business

Your time here is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Dont become trapped by narrow thinking or youll miss seeing the exciting and endless possibilities that are all around you. Dont let the noise of other peoples opinions drown out your own inner voice. What is most important, is that you have the courage to follow your heart and listen to your intuition. Because, somehow deep within, you already know what you are truly meant to become

Personal development requires that you be open to new experiences; be willing to learn from past experiences and that you value the knowledge and skills you have gained from your life experience so far. And on the theme of self-worth, I would like to share a brief story

There is a story told about the master- painter Picasso. He was sitting at a cafe enjoying the warmth of the morning sun one day, when a rather pompous lady came up to him and abruptly requested that he sketch a portrait of her. He looked at her curiously for a while before he agreed and then he began sketching her in his drawing book.

Within a matter of minutes Picasso had finished the drawing of his subject, and turned the page to show her. She was delighted with it. He then scribbled down on a table napkin the price required for her to purchase the portrait. She exploded! You cant be serious, asking for that much! .. It only took you 3 minutes to draw my portrait!

Yes Madam Picasso calmly replied with just the hint of a smile, but it took me more than 40 years to learn how to draw such a portrait in 3 minutes.

It is you who ultimately determines the value you place upon yourself and your experience. For some people, personal development is about re-affirming their sense of self-worth and discovering an inner contentment that comes from learning to appreciate who they are and what they have to offer.

You may be familiar with the personal development book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey . One of the messages in the book is the theme of exercising choice in how we respond to events in life

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Personal Development & Self-Improvement

2014/02/19 3:54 PM

The quality of your relationships with others, your happiness and success in life and even your bank account is nothing else but the measure of time you invest in personal development.

Now you have the opportunity to invest your time wisely in reading this article and you can finally solve the dilemma about what personal development is and why it is so important.

I would say that people who dont invest time to develop their personality can never grow. And if they dont grow they stay small.

Same as a plant need water to grow, people need personal development to grow as a human beings.

If you dont grow, you die. If your relationship is not growing, it is dying. If your bank account is not growing, its dying.

To grow you need to learn. How much time in your life have you spent learning how to improve your character?

Please keep reading as some of the life lessons that I will share with you can open your eyes.

How hard is it to go through life if you have big obstacles in your way? Its hard.

If you imagine that the obstacles in your way are big walls, then personal development is a way to break these walls and clear the space in front of you so that you can go through your life easier.

If you have a clear space in front of you, you can just flow through life and you dont have to struggle anymore and feel stuck behind big walls that seem too big to pass through.

Personal development is not just a way of solving problems in your life; it is a way of growing. It is your way to a better life, to become an improved version of yourself.

If you think that you dont have to work on yourself, than you definitely do need to!

On the contrary. Only the best people in the world keep working on themselves all the time.

By deciding to step into the world of personal development you are on the right way to the top!

If you are reading this, it means that you are curious to know more about personal development and you should be proud of yourself for that.

The most successful people in the world always invest time to work on themselves. Even if they have millions and billions of dollars, they still continue to learn.

Paul C. Brunson who worked with two billionaires (Oprah and Enver Yucel) said that both of them dedicate a significant amount of time to personal development.

If Oprah thinks that she still needs to learn new skills, you probably need to as well.

In fact, your whole life will never be enough to learn everything you can learn and thats why you can never say that you already know everything.

All successful business coaches that I have personally met said that they dedicate at least 30 minutes of their time every day to personal development. Some of them dedicate even much more time.

And all of them are super busy and super successful, but that is exactly the reason why they are successful because they dedicate their time to personal development.

They said that they need to feed their brain with positive things and new information.

And since every day is a new story, they continue feed their brain each new day.

That is the same reason why you should feed your brain with positive and educational things every day.

The result of this would be that you are happier, you are motivated, you are inspired, you have more energy, you have better quality relationships, you are not complaining anymore, you dont worry anymore, you inspire others, etc.

There are so many benefits that come as a result of constant learning.

Since I started to learn new things every day, I am more inspired than ever before. I have more ideas and I understand myself better.

Personal development is a way to better understand yourself, your unique personality and potentials, your strengths and weaknesses, your aspirations and your talents.

It is a way to improve every aspect of your life. It is a way to realize so many different possibilities and to achieve more than you ever thought was possible.

But there is one condition you need to have ambition!

If you have ambition to learn new things, you will find a way to learn them! If you are open minded that means that you can learn anything you want.

If you are reading this article, it already means that you have the ambition to learn new things. Thats why I want to teach you some of the powerful things I have learned and experienced about personal development.

If you are a beginner in personal development, there are few things that you need to understand first.

1. The more you learn about yourself, the better life you will be able to create.

To understand yourself, you need to be able to know why you are doing the things in your life. One of the life-changing things that Ive learned from Tony Robbins is that all humans have 6 basic human needs.

Four of them are personality needs and two of them are spiritual needs.

Personality needs include a need for certainty, need for variety, need for significance and need for connection and love.

Most people live life meeting these 4 needs. But the last two needs are the one that will determine your success in life.

These last two needs are spiritual needs the need for growth and contribution.

I believe that the only way to grow is to develop our character and thats why personal development is the key to success in life. It is our spiritual need and ability to contribute beyond ourselves.

All humans will fulfill 4 basic human needs during their life, either in a positive or negative way, but those who fulfill these last two needs are the ones who change the world.

When you understand these human needs, you can decide what kind of person you want to be.

2. For everything that you are doing in your life, there is a reason why you are doing it.

Once you understand your needs, you will understand your actions, and if you understand your actions, you will understand your habits.

Important part of personal development is to get rid of any negative habits. To do that, it is essential to understand:

3. Any problem in your life that you keep gives you some hidden benefit of keeping it.

One of the greatest life-changing truths that I discovered learning about personal development is that we keep our problems because we have some hidden benefits for keeping them and usually by keeping small problems we avoid to solve bigger problems in life.

Problems are part of life, but we need to choose how to deal with them.

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional!

Personal development and self-introspection can give you the answer on all questions and problems that you have.

We are very often stuck in our minds when we have a problem and are not able to find the solution. Thats why we need to educate ourselves to get a completely new outlook on our own situation.

By reading personal development books, not only have I found the answers to my questions, but I have also learned how to create better questions.

I have completely improved every aspect of my life health, relationship, career, happiness etc.

If you are new to personal development and you want to start to develop your personality and character, you might not know where to start.

It can be difficult to choose where to start because you have so many options. Usually when we have too many options, we dont choose any.

Personal development is a huge industry and has a lot to offer, from online courses, books, yoga, fitness and meditation programs to life coaching and individual counseling.

Start small. It is better that you start with something then nothing.

You should start by deciding to begin every day with something positive.

You can follow Mind of a Winner on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest. We will put something inspirational, motivational and educational on these sites every day.

On MindOfWinner.com you can learn how to change your mindset and how to achieve success in your personal and business life.

If you spend at least 15 minutes every day learning something new, that means that you are investing time in yourself. Good investments have returns. The return of this investment will be a better quality of life.

Another important thing what you will need to work on during the process of personal development is to learn how to overcome your fears.

The biggest human fear is the fear of public speaking. Its greater even than the fear of death.

If you are one who is terrified of public speaking, you should speak more during public events so you can learn how to get rid of this fear.

I had a fear of public speaking, thats why I decided to go to many events where I was forced to speak on stage. During one event to get out of our comfort zones, we had to sing on the stage for 1 minute. If you have experienced public singing, public speaking doesnt seem so terrifying anymore :).

Another thing you can do to get rid of the fear of public speaking is to join the Toastmaster club. I was a member of Toastmaster in different countries and its very likely that there is Toastmaster club close to where you live.

You can also learn more about public speaking by reading about it, but the only way to deal with this fear is to go and do it. The more you practice, the better you become.

The more difficult thing that you can do to learn more about personal development (from my experience this is the best thing you can do) is to go to a live event.

There are 3 main reasons why I think live events are better than anything else:

I will usually try to go to business events, but during every business event, you spend most of the time learning about changing your mindset. Mindset of a Winner is essential for any business success.

For example, you can check on Meetup if there are live events or workshops about personal development near where you live.

Now when you have general idea about what personal development is, I would like you to give me feedback.

Was this article helpful in getting you to understand what personal development is?

Maybe you are already familiar with personal development, is there something that you would like to add?

Please leave your comment below this article.

Eva Lu is an ex engineer who decided to give up her successful career and dedicate her life to inspire and motivate others to find the best in themselves.She founded the Mind of a Winner website because she strongly believes that success is a skill developed by persistent people and her passion is to motivate others to become persistent enough.Her inspiration and her mentors are self-made millionaires who helped thousands of people to change their lives and who managed to build careers with their passion and vision towards doing something what they love.She also helps young entrepreneurs with business advices and encourages them not to give up on their dreams. She teaches them how to turn dreams into clear visions and ideas, and ideas into actions and results.All posts by Eva Lu

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What is personal development | Mind of a Winner

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT GROUPWednesdays/Thursdays 7:30pm-9:00pm

The goal of the Personal Development Group is to become more aware of our impact on other people, to better understand ourselves, to discover what holds us back from living a more fulfilling life, and to learn how to have more satisfying relationships.

The Personal Development Group is a space where members are invited to express their immediate, here-and-now thoughts, feelings and reactions towards and about other members including anger, sexual attraction, fear, hurt, and affection. Members learn to access and express their own emotions and to comprehend and respond to the emotions of other people. They discover how they might sabotage relationships and explore how to create and sustain intimacy, to ask for what they need, and to receive it.

The group fee is $60 per week and is not covered by insurance at IPG. Group is not for people in acute crisis or psychosis, active addiction or suicidality. Members who are not currently in individual treatment will be encouraged to pursue individual therapy while they attend group. Members are renting a space in the group and are charged for every session, regardless of attendance.

Originally posted here:
Personal Development Group | Insight Psychological Group ...

Want MORE FREE personal development worksheets?

You can find more on our BLOG BY VISITING WyldWomanCoaching.com

Personal Development Worksheets are not developed for sitting on the shelves and getting dusty.

No. Certainly not.

And you cant properly gauge how many youll need to work through in order to shift and squeeze some of those old patterns of thoughts and behaviours into a new dimension.

So, where do you begin?

At the top. Definitely begin at the top of the list. But its perfectly okay to pick or choose a personal development worksheet halfway in the middle of the choices too. Its really up to you.

You could even refer to them as PERSONAL GROWTH WORKSHEETS or LIFE COACH WORKSHEETS. The name you call them is irrelevant to their purposewhich is personal development self-growth improving your life and all that juicy goodness.

When youre ready for an extreme personal makeover dive right into these free personal development worksheets. If you find yourself seeking the answer to the question: What is Personal Development? follow the link through.

And did you know? we have a BOOK with tonnes more PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES!You can purchase the book here (This link will take you to createspace for purchase).

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Have you ever wondered how you can increase your motivation to complete something? There are many different ways of increasing your motivational levels, but the most important thing to realise about motivation is that it fluctuates. It changes from situation to situation and from person to person. The best thing is to become aware of what really motivates you to achieving. The first place we start with is to identify your values because what you value most is what you are naturally motivated towards.

Download this personal development worksheet on How to Increase Your Motivation.

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Creative Responses to Difficult Times

Different situations/times appear in our lives and sometimes they can be difficult. An important part of personal development is to view the situation from different perspectives. When you become self-aware of how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your life you can then choose to expand your mindset to including new possibilities and creative responses. In order to cope well with difficult situations/times you need to build up a variety of different tools and techniques to manage them well. Answer the following questions to help expand your mindset and gain a different perspective.

Download the Creative Responses to Difficult Times Worksheet here.

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Self-Awareness Worksheet *NEW*

Self-awareness is the first step in making dynamic and positive changes in your life. Take some time to get to know your overall circumstances including your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. Use this free personal development worksheet to evaluate and check-in with how you feel on the following scales. And then I highly recommend using the Thought Awareness Worksheet and the Identifying Values worksheet to help explore more aspects of who you are.

Download the Self-Awareness Worksheet Here.

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How to Build Confidence **NEW!**

How to Build Confidence Personal Development Worksheet.

Have you ever wondered how you can increase your confidence? Well, look no further youre in the right spot. Dive right into Confidence Boosting 101 by following this link and then incorporating this free personal development worksheet to evaluate your current confident levels. After that youll find confidence boosting tips on the link above. Our confidence levels are constantly fluctuating so its a good idea to maintain an active awareness about confidence and change your thoughts and activities to increase confidence.

Download the How to Build Confidence Worksheet Here.

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Life Satisfaction

Before you begin to develop your Personal Development Plan How satisfied are you in life?

Lets start with this engaging personal development worksheet which encourages you to explore your level of satisfaction in life. How happy are you with your life right now? What would you like to improve?

Take a moment to evaluate your overall life perspective with this handy Life Satisfaction Worksheet.

Download the LIFE SATISFACTION worksheet here

This worksheet is particularly helpful if you are just beginning on your personal development journey and are unsure of what areas you would like to improve.

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Personal Development Worksheets on Managing Stress

In healthy doses stress can motivate us to achieve, but too much stress is detrimental to our health. There are many situations and events in life that can overburden us, but how can we begin to understand the stressors that weigh us down? In these personal development worksheets you will explore stress and with this knowledge you can gain balance in your life so you can achieve the success you desire.

Download the Stressful Mindsets Worksheet by Clicking Here

Download the Personal Development Worksheet Stress Diary

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Time Management Worksheet

Its not possible to manage time because time doesnt actually exist. It IS possible to organise your daily activities and make better use of the time thats available during the day. A good time management plan reduces stress and enhances productivity and efficiency.

Good time management is essential for success at school, work, with your family and in your business. This handy time management worksheet will help you organise your time and plan your day to be more productive and efficient.

Download the 3 Page Time Management Worksheet by Clicking Here.

Identify Your Values

You have a set of personal values that motivate you towards a certain mission in life. Your values, are what you believe are important, in the way you live. Values can range from family traditions, to more everyday values in work situations such as punctuality and reliability, and then there are personal values that are psychological such as self respect, kindness towards others and having a life purpose.

If your life focus is different than your core values you will feel dissatisfied and frustrated. Its important to ensure that your values determine your priorities.

Download the FREE Personal Development Worksheet on Identifying Values by Wyld Woman Coaching

Thoughts for Success

The ability to be consciously aware of your thoughts is an important tool in your personal development plan. In fact, you can not successfully transform your life without being aware of the thought patterns in your mind. Become more intimately of yourself by delving deep into your thoughts with this 10 PAGE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET.

Thought awareness is an essential personal development tool to improve your life. Inside your mind and your thoughts are the keys to whats hindering your success as well as what you can change in order to put your life back on track.

Positive thinking is an important tool for creating success in life, relationships and business.

Download the Thought Awareness Worksheet by Clicking Here.

Personal Development Worksheet on Goals and Dreams

What are your goals and dreams? What do you really want in life? This free personal development worksheet will take you on the next level of exploring what you are passionate about, where you can see yourself in ten years time and the level of income you desire.

Defining what you want is absolutely necessary. If you do not have a clear idea of what you wont be able to develop a successful action plan that aims towards your goals. Use this PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET on GOALS AND DREAMS to explore what it is you truly want.

Download the Personal Development Worksheet on Goals and Dreams

Develop an Action Plan for Success

Once youve identified where you are at and where you can to go its time to develop a plan of action so that all your behaviours are aligned at creating your goals.

In order to reach your goals what behaviours will you STOP, MINIMISE, KEEP DOING, do MORE of and which will you START?

Download the Action Plan Worksheet by Clicking Here.

If you enjoyed working with these worksheets youll love the BOOK!BUY THE ULTIMATE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT BOOKtoday!

The Ultimate Personal Development Workbook reveals valuable tools and techniques for you to consciously steer your life in the direction you want to go. As you actively involve yourself in these successful strategies youll uncover truths about yourself, identify personal tools in your toolbox and realise your full potential for creating a life you love.

With these dynamic personal development activities youll be fully active as a conscious creator of your life instead of feeling stuck or frustrated. You will:

Read the rest here:
Personal Development Worksheets FREE

Everything that self hypnosis and hypnotherapy helps people with can be thought of as personal development.Conquering a habitorovercoming a phobiawill certainly enhance the quality of your life, after all. However, the sort of personal development we are talking about here is a more active and positive process of self-improvement. It is about achieving the things you do want, rather than getting rid of the things you dont want.

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state of mind. Modern research has closely identified it with the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state, most often associated with dreaming sleep. Interestingly, the time when we experience most REM is in the womb, suggesting that it is involved in laying down the essential templates that shape our behavior throughout our lives.

Self hypnosis, then, is a way of accessing this state of mind to lay down new and more helpful patterns of behavior. This is done throughdirect communication with the subconscious, the part of your mind that controls all of your habits and behaviors. Its the part of your mind that is always in charge. This is why you can change your behavior consciously for a while, but sooner or later your subconscious will reassert itself and those old and less effective habits will creep back in.

However, by updating the subconscious with new information, and through vivid mental rehearsal, it is possible to achieve profound and permanent change for the better. Once the subconscious has accepted this new information, self-improvement becomes a habit, something that you do almost automatically. Self hypnosis does this by bypassingthe critical conscious mindand delivering positive suggestions straight to the part of your mind that will make them a reality.

Change is not only possible, its inevitable! Many people feel that they are stuck with their current mindset and that their capacity for self-improvement has somehow been predetermined, as if it was fixed at birth like your eye colour. This is simply not true. Our skills, abilities and attitudes are constantly developing in response to our experience, just as our experiences are very often shaped by our skills, abilities and attitudes. It is a dynamic process.

On a physical level, it is now known that our brains lay down new pathways and make new connections according to our experience, literally changing its structure. This is something which happens throughout our lives. Self hypnosis is simply a way of taking control of this process and making it work for you.

Having said that, its also important to realize that were talking about changes in behavior and emotional reaction here, not fundamental changes in your personality. Hypnosis is not brainwashing, so you will still be you, only better!

Self improvement of all varieties is based on a core set of principles and skills. Our personal development self hypnosis CD's and MP3 downloads can help you to take control of your emotions, enabling you to act according to your intention, instead of just reacting to emotional triggers. They can help you to improve your attention span and your ability to relax, which in turn will improve your ability to think clearly and creatively, to set goals and solve problems. Our self hypnosis recordings can also help you to develop the resilience and motivation that is often necessary if youre going to meet your personal development goals.

Thehypnotic techniques and suggestionsused in our products are based on solid research into the best ways to achieve healthy levels of self-improvement. They put you firmly back in control of your own personal development, helping you to set and achieve your own goals.

Its important to stress that hypnosis is not magic, and its certainly not a miracle cure that will instantly solve everybodys problems! All personal development requires work and commitment. Just like any life skill, it requires practice. What hypnosis can do is improve the quality of your practice, setting your mind in the right direction and removing some of the unnecessary emotional baggage or limiting beliefs that can otherwise interfere with your quest for self-improvement.

Face to face hypnotherapy has many obvious advantages, not least the fact that it will be tailored to you as an individual. But hypnosis recordings can be very powerful and effective too, especially in the field of personal development. You can listen to our self hypnosis CD's and MP3 downloads as often as you need to, embedding these positive messages of self-improvement at the deepest levels of consciousness, where real and lasting change takes place.

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Personal Development | SelfHypnosis.com

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. ~ Carl Gustav Jung

Yesterday I was at a birthday party of one of my best friends, who just turned 30. One of the guests asked me what I currently do, so I told him Im building something in Personal Development

which earned me a blank stare from him! As the seconds ran by I could literally see him articulating the question: What is Personal Development?

So I was trying to find common ground by telling him Personal Development is a bit like Self-Help, but more proactive from my perspective. Just like Self-Improvement, which he had an understanding for. The fact that he obviously was lacking some real personal development of his own, got me into elaborating on the topic more and more, earning more and more interest from him

Personal Development is theconscious pursuit of personal growth by expanding self-awareness and knowledge and improving personal skills.[Tweet this!]

Those skills include my mind, my body, my spirit as well as my level of success in all areas of life, however I may define that. The ultimate goal of Personal Development for me is to be a self-realized human being. That means living consciously at my full potential and reaching real happiness in my life.

By progression I mean that there are essential steps to take when starting out with Personal Development. I believe thatin the process of personal growththere are specific milestones to reach, and that without tackling these, personal growth is not really possible or at least not complete.

Maybe you are still not convinced that Personal Development is for you and you may still ask Why? The reason is simple:

Life is just better when we have done work on ourselves.[Tweet this!]

And that includes our mental, physical, emotional, social and financial life. I think its fair to say:

Personal Development makes you happy.[Tweet this!]

You cant really argue with that goal

So how can you get started on your own journey of personal growth. Or if you have already started to consciously follow personal development, how can you get to the next level? During my now over 10 years work on that topic, I identified several of those milestones mentioned above.

There is the basic motivation to improve yourself. Its either coming from inspiration and you are looking to get better than you already are, or it comes out of desperation: something unpleasant challenges you to grow. For instance, what brought you here today?

One of the first things you need is something I would sum up as acceptance. Acceptance means to see your life / your situation as it really is and accept that. Stoprationalizing things you are truly unhappy about and tell yourself the truth. That may also mean you have to look at areas of your life where it really can be painful to accept the status quo. If you connect to the truth you have laid the most important basis to really grow.You have to know where you stand. From there you can move forward. Without that its just not working. Period.

I think the most essential things in Personal Development deal with how you look at the world and how you see yourself in the world, which then determines how you act in the world. Are you a victim or a winner? Do you see yourself as self-confident or not? Are you in control or not? Are you successful? Are you happy or not, and in what parts of your life.

Much of it is about making the unconscious conscious. Thats what this blog is really all about (and then to do the work). Its always the first part to become conscious of how we really work on the inside. Only then we can get control over it. For instance the idea from above of telling yourself the truth, acceptance, is just the same: to make the unconscious reality, that we may haveignoredbefore, conscious. Just that we can make progress now, while before it wasnt even on our radar in was just unconscious.

In psychology this is calledthe four stages of competence:

Quote from Wikipedia:

Makes sense. And in Personal Development we are talking about this process for our whole personality.During this process we make unconscious beliefs that limit us conscious (see my articleHow to Change Self-Limiting Beliefs). We take responsibility for ourselves and stop pointing to others for results that we are responsible for. (see Take Responsibility in Your Life). This moves us back to power again, since we are the one in the driving seat. We are response-able, which enables us to dream again, set a life-vision and set some exciting new goals for our life (see The Fastest Way to Set Motivating Goals).

We learn to get more energy (see How to Increase Your Energy) and how to use it intelligently. We get more self-awareness and improve our mental focus (see How to Develop a Laser-Sharp Mental Focus). We develop a personal development plan that will guide us to where we really want to go.

There are a lot of more things to improve in our own personal growth. But with those mentioned tackled, I think we start to lay a strong the foundation for Personal Development.

So, next time someone asks me What is Personal Development? I may just give him a link to this post.

And coming back to the question, what would you have said?What is Personal Development for yourself?

Continue reading here:
What is Personal Development? - myrkothum.com