Understanding Self-Actualization
May 19, 2022Understanding the concept of self-actualization could help you realize what you’re doing with your life and where you want to be.
The Four Aspects of Self-Actualization
· Being all you can be
· Living to your full potential
· Honoring and valuing your gifts, talents, and skills, and generously sharing them in service of the highest good for all: a more peaceful, loving, and compassionate world
· Living a life of passion and purpose
Six Tips Toward Self-Actualization
· Nurture and cultivate a loving relationship with yourself—vibrant self-esteem is a robust foundation of self-actualization.
· Acknowledge and value your specific and unique gifts.
· Have the courage to follow your calling from within.
· Answer this question: If I wasn’t afraid and knew I could not fail, who would I be, and what would I do?This defines your self-actualized vision. Then the question becomes: To live into this vision, what are the thoughts I think, the words I speak, and the actions I take?
· Use breakdowns, blocks in the road, challenges, and stepping stones to support your vision.
· Understand the creative process, how the brain works, and have a community of support—your vision keepers.
Obstacles to Self-Actualization
SusynReeve, a self-esteem expert and the author of The Inspired Life: Unleashing Your Mind’s Capacity for Joy, says that, unfortunately, many people haven’t even started on the road to self-actualization.
“They don’t understand how the brain works, the creative process, and that everything that exists begins inside and then is brought to form outside,” she says. “Most people suffer from low self-esteem and do not believe in themselves—they feel unworthy, unloved, and are ashamed of these feelings. Their fears, worries, and anxieties stop them in their tracks. They give more credence to the opinions of others and fail to honor their inner knowing.”
Five Stages to Self-Actualization
Sarah Lendt, a nationally certified counselor, references the humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow's definitions of the stages that people must master before reaching the final tier of self-actualization. The five stages are:
· Physical needs, like food and water
· Safety and survival, including physical and emotional safety and shelter
· Love and a sense of belonging
· Esteem and self-esteem
· Self-actualization
It can be challenging, of course, to move past all of these steps to get to self-actualization.
Lendtsaid, “In our lifetime, we strive to meet these various needs,” according to Maslow’s concept of self-actualization and his hierarchy of needs. “Circumstances may cause us to go back to a particular stage and need to fulfill it again; once a need is fulfilled, we can work toward achieving the next need. On the other hand, sometimes unmet needs can cause a person to become fixated or stuck at a particular level.”
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