Provision #595: Beyond Survival
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
LifeTrek Laser Provision
Between bankruptcies, job losses, foreclosures, and scandals there's plenty
in the news to stimulate panic and fear. When that happens, we often shut down
our higher-level functions in favor of the lower-level things that will protect
our interests and enable us to survive. Although it's important to pay attention
to our survival needs, it's also important to go beyond survival when times are
tough. Otherwise, we may lose our soul in the process of finding our way through
the forest. This Provision will assist you to make it so.
LifeTrek Provision
Many of you may be familiar with the hierarchy of needs first proposed by
psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943. It is typically diagrammed in the form of a
pyramid with five levels. The lowest four levels are what Maslow called
"deficiency needs" since a failure to meet these needs creates observable
physical and/or psychological deficiencies. The top level represents
what Maslow called "growth needs" since they represent elective efforts to
become more fully happy and alive.
By 1971, Maslow and others had subdivided the "growth needs" into four
sub-levels, since there is an ever-expanding universe of potentialities,
possibilities, and pulchritudes that contribute to human growth.
In reverse order, then, from bottom to top, here is how Maslow described those
various needs:
- Level 1 Needs -- Physiological: Breathing, Food, Water,
Sleep, Sex, Homeostasis, Excretion
- Level 2 Needs -- Safety: Security of Body, Employment,
Resources, Morality, Family, Health, Property
- Level 3 Needs -- Love/Belonging: Friendship, Family,
Intimacy, Be Accepted
- Level 4 Needs -- Esteem: Self-Esteem, Confidence, Achievement,
Recognition, Respect
- Level 5.1 Needs -- Cognitive: Knowledge, Understanding, Problem
Solving, Exploration
- Level 5.2 Needs -- Aesthetic: Symmetry, Order, Beauty
- Level 5.3 Needs -- Self-Actualization: Self-Fulfillment, Self-Efficacy,
Creativity, Spontaneity
- Level 5.4 Needs -- Transcendence: Altruism, Service, Wonder, Beyond
Ego, Contribution, Connection, Wholeness
The lists of descriptors for the various needs are in no sense
exhaustive. They are rather suggestive of what each level entails; you may think
of other descriptors and you can certainly see overlap between the descriptors.
That's all well and good since the heart of Maslow's conception has less to do
with the description of the needs than with the recognition of the needs as
universal, human phenomena. No matter who we are, no matter where we live, no
matter what we believe, no matter how we seek to satisfy them, all human beings
have the same needs. And that's a radical concept.
One of the debates since Maslow's time has to do with the notion of
understanding and portraying needs as existing within a hierarchy. As originally
conceived, both developmentally and theoretically, Maslow suggested that people
had to meet lower-level needs before they could, would, or should be expected to
meet higher-level needs. When someone is starving, for example, due to a lack of
food and water, they are not going to have much interest in or energy for
beauty, creativity, and wonder. Or so Maslow thought.
That idea, however, has been largely discredited since Maslow's time. Due in
part to studies with children, who evidence interest in Level 5 Needs regardless
of circumstance, it is now understood that all human beings have all of these
needs all of the time. It may not even be helpful to differentiate between
"deficiency needs" and "growth needs." Who's to say, for example, that a lack of
understanding, beauty, self-efficacy, or contribution does not create observable
deficiencies in a person? Similarly, who's to say that rest, health, intimacy,
and recognition do not stimulate growth?
It works this way because human beings are whole beings. Consider the physical
body. It has different parts, but they come as a total package. Meeting the
needs of one meets the needs of all, and vice-versa. So, too, when it comes to
the many needs identified by Maslow and those who have followed in his
footsteps. They may appear to be different, but they come as a total package.
Meeting one need contributes to meeting every need, and it really doesn't matter
where you choose to start.
Which brings me to the point of today's Provision: with all the doom-and-gloom
reporting of one financial crisis after another, it's tempting to become a
"survivalist" focused primarily if not solely on those Level 1 and Level 2
Needs. That, however, would be a mistake. Those other needs don't go away just
because of tough times. Contrary to Maslow, they may become even more important
in tough times. The need for transcendence is deeply imbedded. And by attending
to higher-level needs we may find it easier, rather than harder, to meet lower
level needs.
So let this Provision serve as a clarion call for "thrivalism," rather than mere
"survivalism," in tough times. My mother remembers her father, who eked out an
existence like so many others during the Great Depression, putting dimes on the
sill of their garage window in the alley just in case someone might happen upon
them while passing by. My grandfather figured that the discovery of a dime might
not only put a little money in someone's pocket; it also might put a smile on
their face for having found a little money rather unexpectedly.
That's what I mean by "thrivalism" -- if we hope to thrive in difficult times,
then we have to find ways to keep our spirits alive. It's not enough to meet
those basic, survival needs. We also have to meet those higher, growth needs.
And it doesn't take much.
The other day I found my wife looking out the window, on what looked to me like
a cold, dreary, and rainy day. I teased her a bit when she commented on the
beauty of what she was looking at, since this was a far cry from the blooming
splendor of spring. She brought me up short, however, with her reconnaissance of
all the things she found inspiring in the natural environment: winter birds,
rust-colored leaves, bending branches, and breezy clouds. I stopped my banter
and opened my eyes. There really was a lot to see, celebrate, and appreciate.
I submit we can do that at any time, at any place, in any circumstance, and for
any reason. We just have to give ourselves the permission and time to look. I
also submit that we need to do that if we hope to maintain and enrich our
humanity in difficult times. We ignore those "growth needs" at our peril.
One interesting way to do that is to read the news through the lens of the
higher-level needs. For example, take the two latest examples of apparent greed
and corruption: the alleged multi-million dollar pay-to-play racket of the
Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, and the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme of
the Wall Street veteran, Bernard Madoff. It's easy to read those stories with
nothing but disdain and disgust, lashing out in anger or retreating in fear. I
know more than one person who is ready to put their money in a mattress.
But there are other ways to read those stories. We can become interested, for
example, in the legitimate needs they were trying to meet through their
illegitimate actions. We can see the beauty of those legitimate needs,
recognizing that we have them too, as well as the tragedy of their
counterproductive and hurtful strategies for meeting those needs. We can look
for creative ways to meet our needs that will enrich rather than erode life. We
can even feel grateful for the whistleblowers and for those who are trying to
pick up the pieces. We can certainly feel compassion for those who have suffered
great loss in the process.
These are but some of the many ways that we can hold our heads high during times
of crisis. Don't cave into the panic of the times. Instead, reach into the
wonder that lies behind them all. That will take us beyond surviving to thriving
in the face of fear. It will keep us human and growing. It will enable us, as
Ken Medema likes to sing, to "dance in the dragon's jaws."
Coaching Inquiries: How are you reacting to the times? What pressures
are you feeling? What needs are getting stimulated? Where can you turn for
support and understanding? Who can assist you to sort out what's going on, what
your options on, and how to move forward in faith? Why not reach out for
coaching today?
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LifeTrek Readers' Forum (selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers' Forum contains selections from the comments
and materials sent in each week by the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do
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submit your comment, use our Feedback Form or
Email Bob..
Happy 54th Birthday! We share the same birth year :) The recent economic
crisis affords all of us the opportunity to not only look for good, but also
to use the resources we already have. In Western countries most of us are
far richer in many ways than most world citizens. I'm thankful that this
holiday season will be much less focused on empty materialism, and those
important, thankful, conversations are taking place between more people.
Happy birthday, Bob. The world is a better a place because of you. I
treasure reading your thoughts. I am know that are countless others that are
in the same boat. You truly are a total person.
Happy Birthday to you, Bob. I do hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.
Thank you for your recent
Provision,
including the story about the glasses. It was wonderful.
The story about the glasses is very inspirational Bob -- thank you for that.
I think it fits with what I say to people who have cancer -- what can you do
today to make your life be the best it can be? I see cancer as a wake up
call not a death sentence.
Your last Provision was another smooth, wide, and flat stone on my path! It
is good that you are in the world at this time. We yearn for voices of those
who bring reason, lightness, hope, possibility and who provide guideposts
that we might continue our paths forward. It is good that you are in this
world at this time! You are one of those voices, and one many hear
regularly. Many blessings.
Thanks so much for that poignant description of Paul's baptism in your last
provision. We all read it out loud together, and it re-created that
beautiful occasion for us. You definitely tapped into the unexpected lesson
that came with that wave. Thanks again for your unhesitating decision to "do
the right thing" that day, and in many other ways with your life.
I love getting your Sunday musings. They offer links to the Spirit that have
ended up in my sermons in some way or another on more than one occasion.
Thanks!
Little story -- I have been having some internal resistance to my
loving-kindness meditation in the last few days. I was feeling odd and sort
of bereft about it, and was sitting with that feeling. Just now, when I read
the words in your mail signature -- goodness, peace, and joy -- they filled
me up and felt just exactly right. They found their home, and I am grateful
to you for that. Thanks! Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran, President
LifeTrek Coaching International
121 Will Scarlet Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185-5043
Email: Coach@LifeTrekCoaching.com
Phone: (757) 345-3452
Fax: (772) 382-3258
Twitter: LifeTrekBob
Web: www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
Mobile: www.LifeTrekMobile.com
Coach Training: www.EvocativeCoaching.com
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