Our Human Needs, Values & Happiness

Everybody wants to be healthy, whole and happy, but it is not possible to be all these in a vacuum. By this we mean we cannot be happy just because we want to be happy. When the rights of man were stated, it is, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” – pursuit being the operative word. Just as we cannot be healthy doing nothing (or doing un-healthy things), there are things we can do to enable, activate, actualize and realize our health, wholeness and happiness, and pursue it. Since happiness is a state of being, it is something we can achieve through an awareness and application of certain principles, ways of being and manners.

Abraham Maslow simplified it in his Hierarchy of Human Needs.

Being human, we have several needs we get to meet, just as plants need the sunlight and air along with the rich nutrients of the soil to bloom and grow. Plants cannot grow if they are not provided the right conditions, and as human beings, we are very much the same. We have vital needs that require satisfaction and fulfillment, support and supply, safety and security, otherwise it would not be possible for us to lead full, realized, happy or healthy lives.

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Our Human Needs

Physiological Needs

Our most basic needs as human beings is our need for air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, and reproduction. It is very challenging to be healthy and happy if we are unable to meet those vital and immediate, human requirements. At any point in our lives those will be our most basic and immediate needs we get to enjoy and meet in order for us to pursue and enjoy the possibility of health, wholeness and happiness, so it is definitely something we need to be grateful for when we have it, and something we are always supplying, for our well-being!

Safety Needs

To be healthy and happy – mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, we need to have our personal security, employment, resources, health, and property requirements met. It is very challenging to be healthy, whole and happy when we are constantly worrying about these needs and without them our existence could feel threatened. Feelings of safety are key to living well – all living organisms exist with in-built mechanisms to ensure their survival, with safety and protective instincts, and it is the same with us as humans. Our natural drives as humans is to feel safe, supported, supplied and secure, guarded, and protected – it is essential for our existence and mental, emotional and physical well-being, so they are our priority across our life and essential foundations that enable us to pursue and enjoy a life of health, wholeness and happiness!

Love and Belonging

As humans, it is important for us to have and enjoy friendship, intimacy, family, and a sense of connection. We are social and inter-dependent beings. None of us possess all the talents, interests, passions and skills to live on our own – no man is an island, and we need each other to live. The happiest people are those that feel supported and cared for by their communities. When people support and help each other, they thrive and lead healthier, more wholesome and happier lives. Togetherness is key to our survival.

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Almost all of us is skin, and touch alone heals many ailments – the soothing assurance that we are loved, held and safe creates wonders to our immune system, and we come to states of balance and homeostasis being alone sometimes threatens. We need others to support our well-being and unfolding, and in the same vein, we need to be of support to others in their unfolding and well-being.

As we appreciate and honor each other’s presence in our lives and the gifts we bring into each others lives, we have the most chances to thrive!

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Esteem

At any point in our human life, without respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, or freedom, our joy or happiness can suffer. It is innate in our human design that we seek these values just as flowers bloom to their perfect expression and fragrance, and just as stars shine their optimum brilliance. Each of us was designed in a way that we have our own, unique talents, passions, interests and skills we get to hone, develop, use (practically or creatively), and beam out to the world to support it. Just as all beings are key to the survival of the ecosystem in which it thrives, we are all designed to benefit the collective and our world just as we are, as we let our light shine. As we do this, as we honor our unique gifts and hone, express and share them, we feel useful and practical and accomplished, and this truly brings us gratification in our lives and assists us in feeling healthy, whole and happy.

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It does not matter how big or small our accomplishments are, compared to each other – every accomplishment is of value because we are all unique, therefore, our expressions vary as each species of flowers blooms differently: we are all wonderful in our expression because no one is like us in this world. We are one of a kind. It is therefore incumbent in our being to search and reach for our star and soak in our ray of sun so we may be the person we came here to be! As we allow this, the world is supported! Our world is supported!

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Abraham Maslow said, “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.”

It is key to our wellbeing an to the support of all mankind!

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Self-Actualization

Just as all flowers bloom and stars shine we have the innate and natural desire to become the most that we can be. It is natural to our being as expressions of Life on earth, sharing the same tendencies and bents as ALL LIFE ITSELF to reach its apex, and fullest, most wonderful expression. In this aspect we include all areas of life in our unfolding – from our states of beauty to our relationships, our creative expressions at work or play and success states; our friendships, intimate relationships and supportiveness to our communities – these are all areas of our lives desiring to experience and enjoy LIFE AT ITS UTMOST for joy, well-being, wholeness and happiness – the drives of life and the embodiment of our human potential!

Life is not apart from us – IT IS US – expressing, experiencing and enjoying Itself today – through our own being! And as we honor and engage our authentic human desires and needs, as well as those impulses of desires and inspiration we get to move things forward, we become what we are designed and destined to be – healthy, whole and happy!

It takes an authentic inquiry, examination, understanding and personal engagement of our natural drives, requirements and processes, and as we involve ourselves with our own design and being, we evolve and become what we are here to be!

 

The Drive of Life & The Embodiment of Our Human Potential

My guru always said, “when you are feeling sad, it means you are not desiring enough.” Or that you can desire more!

Next time you are feeling lonely, check if you are isolating and perhaps need to spend time and relate with friends, family or your intimate relations! We are social creatures, and socialization is key to our well-being!

When you are feeling bored, perhaps it is time for a trip to the beach or mountains! There is quote that says, “If you don’t like where you are – move! You are not a tree!”

When you are feeling jealous over someone’s success, perhaps it is time to activate your talents and skills and hone them to their perfect expression! Other people are merely mirrors of who we are or who we can get to be! So let them inspire you to your own wonderful unfolding!

We get to use the use this awareness of our human design to our benefit and play!

Happiness is not in someone else’s hands, although we help each other achieve it. It begins by understanding that it is a normal state for us to want (and as much as we actually do!), just as the flowers bloom and the stars shine, so must we! And not only that but that our happiness rests in our realization of this utmost happiness we dream! We are designed to lead our lives to its fullest expression as human beings – not just one way, i.e. in health or success – but in all possible ways we can – through our relationships, our goals, our creative expressions, all ways! Not just some times – but all the time! To the degree we recognize our multi-faceted, needy nature, honor it, involve ourselves with our being enthusiastically and wonderfully, brazenly and with daring-do, and claim what is ours to pursue and seize, health, wholeness and happiness is ours!