I just got an email from my brilliant assistant (a word which does not do justice to the value this woman brings to my life – alternative title options welcomed) asking my opinion on the question:

Is it possible to OD on personal growth?

I answered with a resounding: YES! TOTALLY!

Here’s the thing: We all have everything we need within us right this second.

You don’t need another course…
You don’t need a coach…
You don’t need to read another book…
You don’t need more information…
Or more insight…
Or another practice…
Or philosophy..

…to tap into the brilliance of who you are.

You have that in you already. It’s just a matter of remembering.

Here’s the truth:

I spent 6 months this year being coached by the brilliant Chela Davison. I’ve read at least 10 “grow yourself” books, as my friend Josh calls them, since January. I just spent 5 weeks with Dyana Valentine shining my manuscript and my psyche before sending it off to my editor. I attended 4 personal development oriented events just in July and August alone. Many of my closest friends are actually professionals in the personal growth industry so I barely go a day without chewing on the possibility of optimizing the human experience.

But the other morning I awoke really early and a strong voice within me said: ENOUGH.

I had signed up for another series of coaching and my body was giving me a clear signal in the form of a knot in my stomach that I’m currently full up on personal growth.

Sometimes we just need to chill and integrate. Sometimes the biggest life lessons will come over ice cream with your 3 year old instead of at a weekend retreat with the guru of the hour. And sometimes you don’t need a lesson. You just have to be.

There’s infinite information, insight, and wisdom on the planet. We were all given God’s direct line. Some of us have simply forgotten where we wrote it down.

I write this post with a sense of irony given the fact that I happen to work in the personal growth industry. So I’m not telling you not to buy any more personal growth books or take any more workshops. (I would be SUCH a hypocrite if I did.)

Do I believe in the work that I do in the world? Hell yeah. Will I keep attending seminars, searching my soul, going on retreats, and listening to others for wisdom and insight? You bet your bippy.

But today I wanted to remind you that sometimes you get full. Sometimes you’ve had enough. Sometimes you need a little time and space to digest what you already have learned from without and from within.

If I honestly put into action even 5% of the material I’ve learned from books and seminars that I’ve not yet implemented, my life would be revolutionized. And if I went within and asked my soul more questions instead of looking for answers outside I would probably spontaneously combust from unleashing the spark of divinity cooking away in there at all times.

And I know you would to.

Take a break from time to time. Be un-coached for a while. Let the fields of self-actualization lie fallow for a season. Ask yourself what you think instead of your girlfriend or guru. Read a novel for a change.

And then the next time you walk into a seminar, take a course, or open a personal growth book, you’ll be coming from a place of fullness instead of emptiness. You’ll not be looking for the missing piece of information to complete you. Instead you’ll be browsing for the cherry on top of your already incredibly dense, deep, sweet, wise cake of self-assurance and personal knowing.

I promise you: you’ll get a heck of a lot more out of another person’s wisdom when you first see yourself as full, instead of empty. (Click to tweet.)

So my reminder to you today is this:

It is possible to over dose on personal growth.
Take a break from growing every now and then, at least from growing in any sort of focused, purposeful way.
You already have everything within you that you need.
You are full already. You came in that way. You are lacking in nothing.