Life Philosophy Development Center

The foundation for all personal philosophies is one’s understanding of the world. Each of us has our unique experiences with the world and their unique way of knowing the world. Together, your experiences and the ways that you know them results in our own unique understanding of the world.

Understanding the breadth of what can be known and the variety of ways that something can be known and using this knowledge as you establish or reconnect with your perspective on the world helps create a more robust personal philosophy. A broad perspective on the world provides more of a foundation for your personal philosophy. While personal philosophies don’t include everything you know about the world, they typically include your most essential knowledge. The more expansive your perspective is, the more you know about it and the more ways that you know it, the broader of a foundation you have for what you consider to be essential.

While, there is no absolute criteria for how broad your perspective needs to be before you develop your personal philosophy, it is something you should consider. Regardless of where you are in life, it may be good for you to expand your perspective or at least reconnect with it as part of actively developing your personal philosophy.

Too, we all continue to learn and the world continues to change, as this happens your personal philosophy will likely evolve. The important thing to know is that your experiences with and understanding of the world provide the foundation for your personal philosophy.

In the Learning Center the importance of self-knowledge to personal philosophies is addressed. It is through the lens of self-knowledge that you know what is especially significant. An important part of developing a personal philosophy that rings true to you, is meaningful and is something that brings value to your life is making the connection with yourself and how you know the world.

Making this connection can be challenging considering the barriers that are in your way. The junk self-knowledge created by these barriers requires you to differentiate it from what is truly significant to yourself. Accomplishing this differentiation is essential for developing a personal philosophy that is meaningful to you and is something that can enrich your life in significant ways.

Many people get uncomfortable just thinking about being too introspective. Understandably, this part of developing a personal philosophy is easy to avoid, minimize, or just skip outright. Doing so will likely result in a personal philosophy that is not personally significant, draws too heavily on others or never takes meaningful shape.

Making the connection with yourself and what is genuinely significant to you is perhaps the most important part of developing a personal philosophy. 

The third essential part of developing a personal philosophy is focusing on what is essential. With an expansive perspective on the world, you likely have much that is significant to you. While it is good to consider all that you find significant to your perspective on the world as you develop your personal philosophy, that which is the most essential to you is at the core of yours. Differentiating your core components from all that you find significant is the process of identifying what is essential to you. They are your truths, aspirations, things you place value in, sources of meaning and personal wisdom that are indispensable.

Identifying what is essential to you from all else will create a personal philosophy that speaks to you and has applicability in your life.

In the Learning Center we touched on the importance of expressing one’s personal philosophy. Expressing your personal philosophy is a necessary part of developing it. Most people that have developed their personal philosophy have expressed it. In fact, this is the part of developing a personal philosophy that most think of first when they think of developing theirs. Many want to jump right into writing, followed perhaps by some thinking, brainstorming and rework until it is done and likely soon forgotten. While expressing your personal philosophy is important, please consider that it is not the first part of developing one. The time spent on creating the foundation, making connections and understanding what is essential will not only help you understand what you are expressing, it will provide you focused materials for doing so, and help you develop your personal philosophy into something that you can use to enrich your life.

Once you have developed your personal philosophy, it is essentially impossible for it not to affect your life. It is possible, though, to not make it a significant part of your life, and unfortunately many do. The value realized from your personal philosophy for you and the world, happens when you make it real through actively knowing and living it. This is why LifePhilosophy.net places the ultimate importance on doing so, and hopefully you do as well.

In the Learning Center we looked at the importance (value) of a personal philosophy and how your personal philosophy is a practical tool.