The Hierarchy Of Needs Part 4

There are five basic needs that have to be taken care of in life. These basic needs have to bentaken care of in order for anyone to get to a point where they are able to truly express themselvesnin life and feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. The four lower level needs are basic daily nsurvival. Not taking care of these needs will force us to put more energy and time into them than isnnecessary. Though the needs are broken down as seperate entities, they are interconnected. Eachnhigher need is connected to the needs below it, and not properly taking care of a lower need willncause a need to back track. The five needs are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, andnself-actualization.

The third on the list of needs is love and belonging. At this point, we begin to move into the emotionalnlevels of the hierarchy of needs. Though the need of security has an emotional basis to it, the level ofnlove and belonging really is about our emotional connection to other people and the world around usnin general. The need of love and belonging involves frienship, family, and sexual intimacy. These nconnections and relationships are what help us feel a sense of belonging in the world. A sense ofnneed and of identity. Love is also one of the most powerful forces on the planet. Love will cause peoplento give up everything they have to take care of someone they love including their life if need be.

Friends and friendship is an important part of the human experience. Humans have gotten to where wenare because of our ability to bond and communicate. By associating with people of like minds, we beginnto feel a sense of belonging to something. Even if that something is just a small group of people we associatenwith on a regular basis. Human beings are social creatures. Not having a good network of close friendsnwill be a huge drain on ones emotional state. Friends can be a catch 22 though. A poor group of friendsnwill not allow one to grow and develop in a good manner and keep one at their current station in life.
A good group of friends will inspire and lift. They will support their friends as well as help them to chasentheir dreams and acquire what it is they are after.

Family is the most important of all connections. These are directly related to our sense of survival. Afte
all, our family line cannot continue without offspring to carry on our genetic code. This is hard wired intonus, especially for women. Women choose a spouse based on his replication value and will not moveninto sexual intimacy until they feel safe, secure, and certain that the man they have chosen will be therento support them and the child. Men also choose a spouse based on emotional security and replication nvalue. I know this all sounds like a very scientific approach to attraction, and it goes much deeper thannjust basic science, however, learning the psychology behind attraction can help to attract a good spouse.

Love of family is a very powerful force. We have all heard stories of mothers who lift entire cars to saventheir children. Or fathers who sacrifice everything for the chance of a better life for his family. Love movesnus to be greater than we are. It inspires us to do more than we thought we could. Love will lift the lowliestnof men to the greatest of positions. Love will cause us to give up our lives if need be. Love can movenanything in it's path, and often does. There is no greater emotion in the human experience than love.
There is no greater feeling than that of being wanted and desired by another person we care deeply for.

Of all the needs, this can be the most powerful of all. Love will cause us to do more to take care of thentwo lower needs of security and physiological. Love will inspire us to grow and gain self-realization throughnthe experience of another person. Though one must be careful. Often times, people will try to rush to lovenwithout having taken care of the lower levels of need. This only creates an unstable relationship that is asnfragile as a powder keg. One small spark in all of the underlying issues and the whole relationship blows up.
Be sure to take care of the lower levels of need before chasing love and belonging prematurely. Also bensure to surround yourself with friends and family that support you and help you to grow and develop the othe
levels of need.

In the next part of this series we will be discussing esteem and how it relates to our success and developmentnin life. Again, be sure to take an honest evaluation of your current situation and how well you have taken care ofnthe lower levels of need. Each of these build on one another and support each other. Not maintaining the lower nlevels properly will only cause a need to go back and do so until that level is sufficiently taken care of. This takesntime and energy away from the higher levels which can cause them to become shaky and unstable.