Are you growing a little wiser each year as you grow older? If you are, you are not only getting older, you are also “growing up” and becoming more emotionally mature. With maturity comes the ability to better handle life’s challenges, enjoy life, and maintain rewarding relationships.

What are the characteristics of emotional maturity?

William C. Menninger, MD, psychiatrist and cofounder of the world-renown mental health center The Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas, suggested that a person who is emotionally mature has:

• The ability to face reality and deal with it constructively
• The capacity to adapt to change
• A relative freedom from symptoms that are produced by tensions and anxieties
• The capacity to find more satisfaction in giving than receiving
• The capacity to relate to other people in a consistent manner with mutual satisfaction and helpfulness
• The capacity to direct instinctive hostile energy into creative and constructive outlets
• The capacity to love

Source:  Wellness News You Can Use, National Wellness Institute (May 2006).