Maslow's Heirarchy

 Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist of the 20th century who focused on humanistic psychology - what distinguishes humans from animals, and what how meeting needs contributes to human motivation. He developed a hierarchy of needs - the identification of human needs and that the most basic needs must be met for people to attain high goals and needs. He identified 5 levels -physiological, safety,, love, esteem, and self-actualization.

Physiological needs are things like food, water, shelter,, health. These are basic survival needs. Unless and until those are met your mind will focus on them and not be able to seek to fulfill other needs. Just like a drowning person will often unconsciously drag a potential rescuer under is their need to push their head above water, so a person who is starving won't listen to appeals of reason no matter how persuasive.

Once those basic needs are met safety and security needs are in focus. This involves not only physically safety - shelter, job security, and a safe environment - but also emotional and mental safety. Freedom from abuse and financial security. Safety at home, and freedom from fear out in public. And personal health , free from fear of disease and accidents

The third level of needs is social belonging. This includes friendships, intimacy, and family. Everybody needs to have connections and feeling like they are part of something bigger than just themselves. And acceptance from others.

The fouth level of needs is self- esteem and self- respect. It involves both internal valuing of ourselves and the need for recognition and respect from others. Someone who does not value themselves will have a harder time valuing others. Being confident in ourselves makes it easier to have confidence to participate with others. And it is easier to be confidence in ourselves if we are getting recognition and encouragement from others.

The final level is called self-actualization. The realization of one's full potential. To go beyond the basic needs and aim to develop all your strengths and desires. To make a mark and society, and to be free to pursue excellence.

It is not always a straight line and sometimes  needs in one level may outweigh the needs in another.
But the basic idea is that often people may feel or be frustrated in seeking to develop skills or reach goals because they are not having basic needs met. People may wonder why their friends or coworkers are not listening to reason or thinking ahead about consequences of actions, without realizing that they are not ready to hear due to more basic needs unmet.

It is important for us to think about this for ourselves and others. If we feel that we are not progressing and meeting goals, examine ourselves to see if we have unmet needs. And we need to help others meet their basic needs before we try to persuade them to accept our point of view, no matter how important it seems to  us.

In out society today, with all the varying and oftentimes intense and stressful situations, think about fear. Fear is often a sure sign of unmet needs. We can't always meet needs, but at least we can understand the often unseen motivation. It is essential