Happiness is Achievable…

Happiness is achievable in Life.  It is possible to Thrive and Feel Amazing in your daily life.  The path to Happiness starts with our basic human needs.  I’m sure your remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.  We learned this little concept over and over again throughout our Educational lives.  But did you really take time to think about it.  Are you meeting all of your needs for Self-Actualization?  Probably not.  Most people never meet this level of fulfillment which makes it difficult to reach true Happiness.  The first 3 levels are the building blocks of a Happy life and most people achieve those three essential areas.  We usually meet our physiological needs (food, water, warmth and rest).  Although not all foods are created equal and rest can be difficult for some people.  Our need for safety and security are usually met if we feel safe in our home and work environment.  Belonging and love is achieved with relationships that nurture and support you with love.  The top two levels are a little more complicated to achieve for most people.  The reason its difficult to achieve or maintain is we all have subconscious beliefs from our past that block us from these two stages: Esteem needs and Self-actualization.

Why is it so complicated to meet Self-fulfillment? Think about it this way.  You are an amazing professional career and feel loved and supported at home.  Yet for some reason most days you feel like something is missing.  You want to do more with your life and feel your true purpose hasn’t happened yet.  You might not understand why these feelings continue to arise but they appear frequently.  Your mind throws you curveballs every day with negative thought and insecurities.  These beliefs are usually related to experiences in your past and rarely coincide with the way you truly feel.  They don’t resonate with your deepest desires, passions and dreams for your life.  That is exactly why… You feel stuck.   Stuck in a job you don’t find fulfilling.  Trapped in relationships that don’t nurture your growth and development.  Therefore you are stuck and you aren’t able to reach the top of your pyramid.  And the pressure trickles down into the other areas you already achieved.  You begin to realize that certain relationships aren’t as nurturing as you used to think.  You start to realize that some groups or people make you feel sad or off center.  This shifts into emotional state impact your sense of safety.  Thus the journey begins.  You begin to surround yourself with people that truly bring you happiness and joy.  You decrease connections with people that are negative or unsupportive and feel a little better.   The relationship shifts help you regain your safety and sense of belonging.  But ahhh.. You are stuck again.  Its all because our minds were programed in our childhood.  We were programmed with feelings and beliefs from our family, friends and ancestors.  These programmed beliefs that don’t resonate deep inside us create a shift in our needs and the way we feel.  Why?  Because your mind does’t truly believe that you are meeting your psychological and self-fulfillment needs.  It means that YOU have a huge potential to SHIFT and THRIVE.   That’s Right… Your mind is sending you messages through your thoughts and feelings to Push you to Change.  That is the power of the human mind.  The fact that your mind isn’t completely happy actually resonates in your body.  You may not even realize the connection but it is there.  We actually develop tenderness, pain and symptoms as our body tries to push you to take ACTION.

Here is an example:  Your Boss comes to you with a project that needs to be done ASAP.  A sense of overwhelm creeps up on you.  Your face gets flush.  Your shoulder and necks muscles tighten.  You feel pressure in your chest.  You want to scream but its not appropriate, so you hold back.  You politely say ok even though you have no idea how to squeeze it into your day.  The day progresses and your stress accumulates but you manage to meet the deadline.  Yet your shoulder and neck are still on fire.  You still feel stressed out even though your work day is over.  Why?  Because you weren’t able to meet your Physiological needs.  You weren’t able to take a break and relax.  You weren’t able to do what you truly desired.  You just pushed through the motions to meet the minimum.  So what now? AWARENESS AND ACTION will set you Free.  So how exactly do you do that?

Image by Bruce Wilson Graphics

The first step was Deciding to Make YOURSELF the Priority.  Yep that’s Right.  You need to make your Needs a Priority.  That means you need to Invest in Your Personal Development.  This Unique Personal Development ensures you are meeting all your Unique needs to reach YOUR Self-Actualization.  The basic fact is YOU need to invest time, money and effort in new areas that help you feel happier, nurtured and fulfilled.  Why money?  The fact is your powerful mind won’t hold you accountable if you don’t invest financially.  Therefore you might begin to make changes but they won’t stick.  They might last a short time but without internal and external accountability your mind will eventually let it drift away.  Think about this.  You are more likely to go to the gym and exercise if you have made an investment or signed a contract.  If the Gym is free, you will go for a few days or weeks but there is no risk to you if you quit.  So eventually that is exactly what happens, you slow down and stop going.  Now, if you invest in a Personal trainer, you are more likely to push yourself to eat better, exercise and make shit happen.  Why? Because the investment hurts.  Just blowing away your money isn’t appealing to your subconscious. When you invest in a Personal trainer or program you are held accountable by yourself and the instructor.  Therefore, you are at an advantage to push through the resistance and make it happen.  Then you begin to see changes in yourself and that reinforces your drive to stick to the change and keep going.  So now that you understand your Human needs better.  Do you feel you are fulfilled?  Do you want to feel happier?  Do you feel you are living your life’s purpose?  Are you ready to THRIVE?

The exciting fact is that you don’t have to start from scratch and figure this out alone.  You don’t have to try and fail over and over again.  It can be Easy and Empowering to nurture yourself.  Let’s Thrive Together.  All of this is Easily achieved with a Guided Path and a helping hand.   Your happiness framework is unique. It’s everything that helps you achieve happiness by meeting your hierarchy of needs.