5 Minute Therapies: Reaching Your Potential

The final tier of the Maslow’s Hierarchy involves meeting our full potential. Also known as self-actualisation. That’s quite a grand ambition and one that garners much debate over how & in what way is this meaningfully possible for anyone.

They are fair questions and it is clear that we, human beings, have potential in many different ways. We have career potential, material potential in terms of our financial wealth, our physical potential – perhaps in terms of our athleticism or health, spiritual potential, and psychological potential.. The list of potentialities is endless.

If the possibilities are endless how can we ever expect to fulfil our potential? It’s a reasonable question that seems to undermine the whole concept. However, how we conceptualise our potential and in what way we consider it fulfilled is phenomenological – That is to say, it is down to the individual’s perspective & perception.

For example, if being wealthy in the material sense is not an aim of yours, it would seem grossly unfair to measure your success in achieving your potential by assessing your material wealth. We need to determine what your aims and ambitions are in life and your progress in achieving a desired level of contentment with your progressing in achieving those that should determine whether or not you have reached your full potential. To be clear, self-actualisation always involves and internal experience of life. You cannot achieve your full potential just by becoming wealthy just because that is an ambition of yours.

But we must also be careful to remember that, even if this is achieved, it is possible to move down through the hierarchy as well as up. You may find yourself having achieved self-actualisation but slipping backwards as life unfolds; Needing to attend to new deficiencies as they arise.

So, What does a self-actualised person look like?

1. Enjoyment of the journey.. You are able to enjoy your course of development and life as it unfolds as well as the result or where ever you end up.
2. Spontaneity.. You are able to plan & organise but feel comfortable leaving room for spontaneity and be spontaneous.
3. Philosophically humorous.. You are able to laugh at yourself, don’t take yourself too seriously, and have a very thoughtful sense of humour.
4. Realistic.. You have a sense of realism that is not informed by fear and are able to make rational & logical appraisals of your internal & external experiences.
5. Ethical & Responsible… You are motivated by a sense of ethics and able to take personal responsibility along with an ability to accept the challenge of problem solving.
6. Comfortable with solitude & privacy as well as the company of others.
7. Self Acceptance.. and self-autonomous. You accept & value yourself just as you are and don’t feel like you need to conform to the ideas, standards & judgements of others to feel happy & content in life.

Hopefully this sounds something like where you have got to in life but don’t worry if not! We are all on this journey and will be for the remainder of our lives. These are as much things to aspire to as much as they are to achieve. As we suggest above.. It’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

If you would like to talk about mental health issues, whether it be for yourself or someone you know feel free to contact BroadMinds Therapy for help & advice. Call (+353) 0899420568, email help@broadmindstherapy.org , message us via this website, or visit our facebook page http://www.facebook,com/jpbroad for more information.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this article.