Published Articles
(Published - Successful Salesmanship - September 1998)
A month or two ago I wrote about focus, so great was the advice that I missed the deadline for the August issue by not being focussed myself. “You’re only human” my wife says “and it’s not a major issue anyway”, (unless of course you happen to be the editor”?
Self actualisation means to develop and achieve one’s full potential. There are some who believe that the whole universe is a diverse pool of energy. Energy is never lost it is merely transformed from one element to another. We are part of the universe and therefore part of the dynamic pool of energy. In order to become one with the universe and it’s energy, we must first become one with ourselves. This is the essence of self actualisation
The way to join with the energy is by seeing our lives as learning adventures, and conducting little experiments by doing our best and letting go of the rest, just trusting and watching to see what life wants us to learn by what it causes to happen to us. And as we join in that, our experience changes and becomes an adventure as we enjoy the unfolding of the process rather than try to control the outcome. And as we do that, we find that our whole life becomes a magical mystery trip.
“Life is either a great adventure, or it is nothing”
People have an underlying biological or transpersonal “real” or “true” self that they can discover and actualise. Self-actualisation is highly multidimensional and involves the pursuit of excellence or enjoyment, in whatever ways each individual chooses to desire and emphasise. The hypothesis is that people time will lead both a “healthier” and “more enjoyable” life if they achieve self-actualisation.Helen Keller.
Difficult times in life remind us that we’re just part of a bigger picture that we don’t control, and that things are working themselves out on a higher level than just our life. They’re teaching us to trust life. But we have to do our part to find that out. Life saves its highest riches for those who trust it most.
Maslow implied that maximum self-actualisation is achieved by what he called “peak experiences” or “altered states of consciousness” these can come at any time in life to any person. Some authorities, such as the Zen Buddhists, identify “peak experiences” and “altered states of consciousness” with non-ego, non-judgmental or pure contemplative states.
“All that I have seen teaches me to trust the universe for all that I have not seen.”
When we let go of our own desires and accept that life knows better than we do what’s best for us, we see that everything works out for the best from a higher perspective.Emerson.
The way we act is what we’ll attract, life reciprocates and responds in kind with whatever our actions show that we’ll accept. The extent to which we act with confidence or trust in life’s invisible hand tends to match the degree that we see it confirmed in our life because life is like a Rorschach ink blot test where we tend to find whatever we look for.
We no longer so much try to get our way on things, but rather, try to keep moving toward higher levels of understanding of what life wants for us, because we see the relationship between how well we do this and how much better our life becomes.
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; only what we do for others remains in the world.”
Because people choose to live in a
social group they had better care for themselves and for others and preserve
and help actualise themselves as well as their society. They
can choose or not choose to put themselves first in some respects, but
preferably should put others, particularly some selected others a close
second.