A persons life involves various key stages of developmental growth the main ones being.
- Infancy
- Childhood
- Adolescence
- Adulthood
- Old Age
Each stage comes with its own various challenges.
While these stages of life are common to most humans, the individuals definitely have very unique experiences and challenges during each stage.
This varies greatly due to cultural & societal norms as well as personal differences and expectations that influence how we navigate these life stages.
We must remember that no two journeys are the same in life and we all walk our own pathway. This makes it particularly difficult to clearly separate and define these stage’s further than the five I have listed.
Infancy
This is the stage of being very dream like and innocent we are taking our first tentative step into this world and everything is new.
We have our dreams and hopes and we absolutely absorb life with a passion. Everything is new to us and the world is a place just full of possibilities but also restrictions.
Our parents start to teach us at this stage the concepts of right and wrong and we start to understand the dangers of the world.
We are at this stage essentially a product of what we are taught or rather shown by our parents.
Childhood
By now we have developed enough mentally to gain a fundamental understanding of our own personal values and personal interests.
We have an understanding of what is dangerous ect and your perception of the world and how you can interact with it is starting to advance.
By now you are likely running circles around or creating havoc for your poor parents. Well this was the case for me and my siblings.
Please do note this learning experience is different for everyone and we all develop in strange & unique ways.
You are maturing and starting to look at your relationships with yourself and others with a more broader perspective.
You have become more independent and your self confidence is higher now. This is the time when you start to push the boundaries a bit more.
Adolescence
It is important to state that this is only my view of my own life as I can relate to it and personal experience of these stages if very different for each individual.
If you are encouraged by loving parents who support and assist your growth and development then by now you should be growing physically and in confidence.
Many who find that they come from less than supportive families may well by now have self doubt, shame and insecurities.
The point here is to ensure the next generation have some PURPOSE OF LIFE so it is important to invest in bring up our children correctly.
The youth of today ARE AND WILL BE the leaders of tomorrow.
Buy now we should be a bright eyed and highly aware being in this world with the get up and go to tackle life’s challenges.
At this stage we should also have a good sense of self identity. When we leave this stage we should have had the opportunity to be fore armed and fore warned about how to survive in the world.
Adulthood
This is the stage where the real adventure begins we are ready for the bigger things in life now such as career, home, family, security.
As young adults we spend our time “Chasing The Dream” as they call it, or competing in “The Rat Race” looking to build a life for ourself with with foundations grounded in hard work, effort, and dedication.
This is not an easy task for any adult living in the modern world today. We are surrounded by opportunities but sometimes our past and current dynamics can hold us back.
We have to recognise and reflect on the paradigms we have adopted from past teachings that do not serve our progress any longer.
At every stage or cycle of life’s evolution it comes with a falling away of the old and a beginning of something new this is a natural process of life.
We should have by now started to gain some of the tools of empowerment and be able to stand in this world as a confident sovereign being.
By now we will may well be married with a home, family and children of our own with some sort of establishment in life.
Old Age
This is the time in life when we tend to start slowing down we have more time to concentrate on what is important to us and reflect more on our PURPOSE OF LIFE.
The main reason I wanted to write this article is to highlight the importance of developing as soon as we can.
I’m am not in Old Age myself yet but it took me 44 years of life just getting started on developing the tools that would empower my life.
I believe that the sooner we start to do the inner work of healing our foundational traumas the better our life’s will be and in turn the world at large.
At this key stage we have major events happening in life such as retirement meaning more time to do what you want in life “getting to do you more”.
At this stage it is important not to be looking back on life in despair as this can lead to hopelessness.
You should by now have a ton of wisdom that you enjoy sharing with your children and grandchildren and great grandchildren ect.
You will by this stage be the head of a family offering guidance to the people around you.
This is also the point that the body can start to go down hill and degrade and we become more susceptible to ailments and frailty.
It is important to mention at this point that every cycle or stage comes with it’s fair share of pain and suffering. Life itself is joy and pain combined light and dark combined so if you are lucky and reach old age then you are by no means a stager to pain.
The wisdom that you should have by now developed should enable you to see past all the suffering and to accept gracefully that life is all about constant transformation and cycles.
You should now be able to embrace your mortality with dignity and grace with a full understanding that it is the next transition of a journey.
When a baby is born it knows nothing about what is on the other side of the womb. Once it is born it has a whole new set of instruments and sensors to investigate its new condition.
I am almost certain this is the same when we transition in death we suddenly have a new way to sense existence and this is my personal belief.
I would also like to state that this article was based on an ideal scenario but not everyone has these optimal conditions that is true.
However we all have free will and are responsible for our own decisions once we come of age.
At this coming of age point it is important that we take care in living a balanced life and try to make balanced decisions.
Knowledge is no good if you don’t understand how to apply it properly with practice and time you gain wisdom.
Wisdom ultimately leads to states of further enlightenment or expansion of the mind.
So the aim then is to continue to expand your mind or to practice mindfulness as soon as you possibly can in life.