The psychologist Abraham Maslow published around 1943 his most famous work: A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he establishes the existence of a hierarchy of human needs, organizing them into a structure later known as the “Pyramid of Maslow?”, which speaks of what we need to achieve happiness.
According to this psychologist, there are 5 main levels of needs, and people will only be able to meet the needs of one level after having met the previous one, from the base of that pyramid where the physiological or fundamental needs are located. , followed by security and protection needs, social needs, estimation needs and, ultimately, self-realization and acceptance needs.
- The science behind this is that when people meet their needs (or at least feel them).
- They enter a time phase that can be considered a state of homeostasis.
- That is.
- A state of internal balance that can achieve a higher level of happiness and / or personal realization.
However, often these needs occur randomly in everyday life, such as the desire to eat something out of anxiety (even if you are not hungry), or prefer to stop eating to guarantee the ceiling where you live or achieve a certain social status, which leaves us with the following question: what is really the hierarchy of needs in the modern world?
It is a fact that many things have changed since 1943, and today’s world has not yet finished adapting to the changes that are increasingly occurring. This difficulty of adaptation is partly due to the advancement of communications and the constant evolution of technologies, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to actually achieve a state of homeostasis, either due to lack of time. or because of the large list of increasingly high and difficult-to-reach goals.
Some Asian and European countries demand, especially the younger ones, to take the time to reflect and reflect, encouraging them in many cases to carry out frequent meditations, because in the accelerated rhythm of modern times, it is very easy to lose contact with the ‘I’. and just listen to the noise coming from the outside.
It is important for each individual to take the time to hear their inner voice, as they often make completely wrong decisions according to urgency when it would have taken 5 seconds of reflection to choose the best path.
In fact, many diseases could be prevented by analyzing needs in order of origin, because by prioritizing physiological needs, the body can stay healthier and stronger to cope with daily life.
So meditate and take your time, learn to listen to your heartbeat more than the screams from the outside, after all, the only thing that really matters is achieving happiness. Being happy means something different for each of us, so we need to achieve our personal goals, not the ones that are imposed on us.
Adapt to your own needs pyramid and only then will you be able to reach your true level of inner balance.
Image courtesy of Moyan Brenn