2 - Conference on Human Development – March 2010 (pg 2j)
A MODEL OF THE “DEVELOPMENTAL SELF”©
Questions to Ask Yourself
How would parenting be different if in fact we were born with a Developmental Self? Would the strife between parent and child, the conditional behavior, the spoiling/indulging patterns, the terrible 5’s till 25’s, along with the teenage rebellion, the expectations for success inducing failure at every turn, the conflict between the adult child and older parent be remedied?
How would our system of education be different if we were born with a Developmental Self? Does this hypothesis explain why the Montessori (Lillard, 2005) system seems to foster healthier Self-esteem, more independence, better habits, and more learning then our present system? Would it support a different, more productive, cooperative and less competitive system?
How would it address teenage rebellion, peer pressure, drugs, teenage sex and pregnancies, career paths? Would the understanding for the need to work with the Developmental Self of a child/teenager, perhaps being even more important than working with their body/brain, be the key to individuals' growing into emotionally healthy adults?
How would the institution of marriage work if individuals were brought up as if they had a Developmental Self, and if they were able to bring the training of their Self to bear on the quality of their relationships? On the quality of their career and life goals?
How would having an individual’s Self developed affect midlife crisis? Would it lessen or eliminate it? Or affect the emotional state of women going through menopause?
How would working with the concept of a Developmental Self affect the psychotherapeutic interventions and psychology itself? Would it produce any measurable results, and would it work where other modalities working with only the body/brain – or body or brain - gestalt, analytic, cognitive, positive etc. – have not?
And finally, how would the concept of having a Developmental Self, one which can be fully potentialized after 40’s affect the aging process? Would it produce successful aging, positive aging, conscious aging, gerotranscendence, disengagement, or something radically different? Perhaps a new type of engagement that had the power to effect change on all levels - family, community, business, politics, global, etc. – that wasn’t based on influence, power, wealth, education, but on the power of a Developed Self?
In each and every case working with the hypothesis of a Developmental Self and its 4 facilities, utilizing a training method that developed the potential of Self and its various facilities produced clear and measurable results.
These results have been documented in detail in the many case studies I have written through the years, and can be independently verified by interviewing the individuals who were my clients/students.
