“Until you have awakened to who you really are

you haven’t lived!”

What is my own personal development plan looking like and will it ever be complete”?

I have a PhD in clinical psychology .  I have worked as a therapist for years and came to the realization that I really didn’t enjoy listening to people’s problems day in and day out. I am a sensitive person emotionally and I would burden myself even after my work day was over, with thoughts of my patient’s problems and how I might “fix” them. Over time this really started to wear on my own personal state of mind. It made me tired emotionally.

Once upon a time I was a dancer.  Hence my inspiriation for my last project site that has hula hoops for sale as an effort to incorporate fun into the meaning of exercise. This was a tiny personal development plan that helps me to develop my skills of exercise that keep me in shape at this ripe older age.

In the last couple of years I have wavered with what I think I want to ultimately do. Do I need to find that answer? As long as I feel that I am growing, learning, moving in a forward direction, I think I am satisfied to feel this discovery in my life that is on going.

I am enthusiastic to wake up on Monday mornings. And even though I still feel happy that it is the weekend, I often work on the weekend because I love what I am doing, or what I am striving to do with my business.

This website is part of my personal development plan.

This website will nurture all aspects of personal development. That can be exercise or diet or meditaion or therapeutic dialogue or sharing with others. There is not just one answer. It is my purpose, here on this site, to bring together in one place all of the tools that might be needed to build your house of “life”. You can pick and choose what seems like the right tool for you.

Your own personal development plan, not someone elses, can be pivotal in your life.

You will not be alone here. We hope to make it possible to communicate with other users. A forum build is in process. Till then I urge users to comment and start dialogues going here on the site. I am using a commenting system that is a little better than the norm. Follow the prompts the first time you use it. You can even attach things to your comment so it could be fun.

I hope to accumulate a large data base of articles that could answer questions for many of you. Read the titles of all published poss in the side bar and see if anything strikes your fancy.

I might indicate here the need for any personal development plan to include a small piece that says “learn” something everyday.

How to learn? Listen to others. Read articles. Use the internet to connect yourself with information. When you have a question type it into the search bar and explore the search results for an answer.  Today, for free, you can find so much that used to only be available in the book store. If you are here you have probably already bought a book or two about your favorite topic and have learned something in that way. I am guessing you are of a curious nature and that you are already a self starter and hardy about your lifes ups and downs and that you are inspired now to make things even better.

As the title of this page indicates, a personal development plan is a useful tool in and of itself. This means to “WRITE IT DOWN”. Don’t just keep it in your head. Take notes. Make an outline. Plan the day and your weeks. Naturally that is easy for me to dish out, but I know better than anyone, sticking to a plan is the hardest part. I hope to arm you with some new ideas that will make this task easier.

We could liken a plan to a goal of sorts. To write the plan you have to have the goal, right? I am a big supporter of setting goals. But I believe that is it necessary to write stuff down, to organize your thoughts into something substantial that you can pick up and read.

Imagine that you did not know how to cook. Or, that you did not know how to build something for the 1^st time. Anything that is important comes with direction. So you can see your personal development plan as your “directions” on the label that is your life. Together, you and me and this website will give you bits of information that should help this task. If you don’t have a good “goal guide booklet” let’s say, then I will be hard pressed to make one up and give it to you here. It would be fun if you have an idea for something that would help and that you would write me an email ;  drmarikazoll@gmail (contact page tab) so that I can collect it for you. After years of being a therapist and a teacher I have accumulated an enormous collection of “good stuff”.  But I might not be remembering it all and could use suggestions so that I go hunt for just the right thing.

I love the idea of free digital downloads for my readers.

I am on that, working to bring monthly giveaways to the site. For now we are in BETA and this site is actually the doorway to a far bigger plan for a virtual experience that will be both therapeutic and stimulating and fun. It will eventually be a membership site of sorts but for now we are grooming this puppy for a full grown dog that will make a great “pet’ for anyone interested in continuous personal development. Those of you that participate in the beginning and contribute in any way will find yourself happy on the launch day because I don’t invite people into my house just once and not let them back in if they don’t have the financial key. Get my drift?  It will be fun.

For a peak into the future, and my future partners, go check out what is happening in the social market right now on the project that is underway as I clean house here and plant seeds waiting for that job to finish. The site is called Magnet.tv.  Go see. Fun stuff if you are selling anything on line at all.

Remember now, read the topics in the sidebar and I hope you will comment or send me an email with suggestions. I hope to receive your email in the opt in box so that I can send you periodic “fun stuff”.  Promise. For now it is all free. We are building a house here. Or did I say feeding the puppy until it grows up. Can you tell, I love metaphors?

And now for a final thought:

I recently saw a documentary that I highly recommend. Remember what I said about learning. Well, I have been on somewhat of a quest to understand more than what I know about peoples norms. Just because it is not my world does not mean it is not enormously relevant. I have done couples therapy for years and almost always hear words of insecurity,  jealousy and infidelity. This movie nails this topic on the head. I recommend it to anyone to stimulate thoughts on the subject and would advise couples to explore agreements and disagreements about the topics discussed. I am not taking sides. I am saying to be open and that confronting the truth could be useful and productive.

The movie is called “The workshop”. By Jamie Morgan.I found it for FREE on Netflix as an instant watch. Brace yourself. It goes far outside the box.

Here is the phrase from the end:

“Until you have awakened to who you really are you haven’t lived”.

Me personally, I am nearly awake. I can see me in front of me. Very clear. But it is sort of like a new car. You know that you will eventually buy car X. But you haven’t yet.

I am so ready to “live” who I am. Or I should say be “me completely”. I am close.

How about you.?

Please don’t hesitate to write me about your personal development plan and we can compare notes.