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Reaching the top of Maslow’s pyramid. Self-fulfillment


Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who developed an interesting theory called the Hierarchy of Needs. It basically states that humans aspire to achieve certain needs that drive our behavior, and those needs have a specific order of fulfillment, as he outlined in levels within a pyramid.

At the base of the pyramid is our most basic need for physical survival. Once that level is achieved, we will be motivated to fulfill the next level, and so on. Psychological needs come next, such as developing intimate relationships, friends, feeling of accomplishment... and at the top of the hierarchy comes self-fulfillment needs, which include achieving one’s full potential, spirituality, wisdom, philanthropy...

I personally believe we all deserve to reach the top of the pyramid in order to truly experience the beauty of life. It is a heartbreaking reality that some of us are stuck in the lower levels of the pyramid, obsessed wih physical comforts, just looking for ways to make more money, more material possessions, working extra time with only a couple of hours a day to bask in self-actualization experiences.


Native Americans have a word for what they describe as the madness of excess, they call it wetiko. Author Paul Levy says we could see wetiko as a bug in the system. It drives human behavior to try to achieve more and more profit to an exceeding extent. Think of this: A man is lost in the woods during a snowfall, he needs shelter, he needs to find a hut, but he doesn’t need two or five or fifty huts, he only needs one to satisfy his need for warmth and physical safety. Do you get the point?

I’d like you to consider questioning this modern world mentality of trying to achieve more material riches and instead looking for ways in which you can achieve self-fulfillment riches. After all, do we really need all that stuff to be happy? Isn’t there a point where we should feel sated?

If we continue to live trying to amass more and more of something we already have in a sufficient amount, we will only stay in the lower levels of Maslow’s pyramid, depriving ourselves from attaining the greatness of self-realization and genuinely relishing our precious life. How does that sound to you? You deserve to reach that top!

Bonus note: I have updated this blog entry to include a link to a mental exercise (a life-hacking tool, you might say) which you will find very useful in relation to this article. This link will take you to a short meditation on letting go and personal growth, which is in essence the idea of this article, and you will also find it useful in releasing the tension and overwhelming feelings that come with the desire of an unfulfilled wish or an idea that you are not able to materialize.

The benefits of meditation would probably be the subject of a different blog entry, but for now I leave you with this meditation I have personally prepared and recorded, and hope you find it empowering in letting go. (A meditation on letting go)


-Kristal Pastor
B.S. in Psychology - Universidad Intercontinental, Mexico
Diploma in Neuromarketing and Market Intelligence - Universidad Anahuac, Mexico
Diploma in Comprehension and Intervention of the Elderly in the 21st century - Universidad Intercontinental, Mexico

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn (Kristal's LinkedIn profile)

Para leer este blog en español, visita Hackeando la vida con psicología

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