I was sitting, enjoying my first cup of tea this morning when my mobile ‘phone let me know I’d had a message. Immediately, an image of a person popped into my head and I was suddenly aware that I always associate that particular notification with this particular person. And it got me thinking …. as many things do, about how this was just as good an example of learned behaviour, as the experiments that Pavlov did with his dogs. (more…)
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Lack vs Growth
11 Mar
Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs
Anyone who is familiar with self development is probably aware of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow used his famous diagram to explain the requirements that he believed all human beings need in order to be complete. Each of us is motivated by our needs. The original diagram has been adapted over the years to reflect many different usages, from personal development to human resource management in companies. The most basic needs are those triggered by our very basic requirements for life to be sustained and include at the base level, food, shelter, warmth, drink and sex for instance. Once these basic needs have been met, we are then able to move on a look at the next level of need, safety and security.
Maslow’s theory states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. Then only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development. Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are no longer available, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs. This is most evidenced when we read of the atrocities that are committed during times of conflict.
It would be easy to assume though that this is a straightforward and linear process and that each of us is on the same journey towards ‘enlightenment’. Yet this is not the case, we can have our needs met in many different ways; for instance we can be completely fulfilled in our work but not even experience security in a relationship.
Looking at the diagram afresh it also seems to me to fall neatly into two parts, the lower levels (1-4) and the one upper level (self actualisation). It seems that these two parts reflect two completely different levels of perception too – the first is built on a LACK of something, be it warmth, security, relationship or status. Whilst the fifth, self actualisation, is based on a perception of GROWTH.
How many of us can say that we are truly on a path of growth in our lives, we are bombarded daily with constant reminders of what we DON’T have in our lives, about how our lives need to be better, improved, different – how different it would be if we were able to look at what we did have and be simply content that we have more now, than we have had at any time in our past history.
Favourite Poems – The Prophet.
14 FebYou were born together and together you shall be for evermore
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God
But let there be spaces in your togetherness
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone
Even as the strings of a lute are alone,
though they quiver with the same music
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart
And the oak and the cypress grow not in each others shadow.
From The Prophet by Kahil Gibran.
Counting our blessings
18 DecMy yoga teacher Katy just sent me this Christmas wish and I thought I’d share it with you …..
If you have food in the fridge, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep …. you are richer than 75% of the worlds population.
If you have money in the bank, your wallet and spare change in a dish some place …. you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.
If you woke this morning with more health than illness …. you are more blessed than the million who will not survive the week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation …. you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death …. you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married or together …. you are very rare indeed.
If you hold your head up with a smile on your face and are truly thankful …. you are blessed because the majority can, but choose not to.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder …. you are blessed because you can offer the healing touch.
If you can read this message …. you are more blessed than over two billion in the world who cannot read.
Have a really great day, count your blessings and remind everyone else how blessed we are. It really made me stop and think and maybe tomorrow I’ll share the ‘global village’ with you.
How to dance in the rain
18 AugI received this from one of my many online friends and it really keyed into aspects of my life that are getting me down at the moment and helped me to view things slightly differently. It is especially relevant as my father had Alzheimers and I think I’ve mentioned before in this blog about how the weekends I spent with him during his illness were some of the best times we shared!
“It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80′s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted my hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’”"
Life isn’t about how to survive the storm,but how to dance in the rain.
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