musings on psychological growth

Georgia O’Keeffe, Ladder to the Moon, 1958

“psychological growth”. we often hear this (or a version of this growth idea) from other professionals and people we are in conversation with. 

the term brings up a few complexities for us. it comes from westernised psychological ideas, where problems are located within individuals. these ideas are born of neoliberalist, capitalist societies, and they benefit these societies: the individual becomes responsible for monitoring and working on themselves to be more productive, efficient and “normative” in society. by implication, these ideas absolve the state- and the policies implemented by the state- from any harm or responsibility of their wrongdoing. who is then excluded or harmed by such ideas? 

we wanted to share some other ideas we cherish:

• our journeys are not individual ones but intricately connected with our communities (past and present) and the natural world around us 

• our identities are not formed in a vacuum but in a social, historical, political context. 

• pain, distress, struggles can give valuable insight into what we hold precious. anger is an important expression of justice seeking in a world where the state inflicts harm and takes lives.

• growth implies linearity and one direction, but our relationships with ourselves, others and the world around us are multistoried and multidirectional. there is huge value in honouring this complexity and giving value to the knowledges, beliefs, responses of previous selves, communities, ancestral knowledges.