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This might help in understanding where you are in your personal development and (for what ever purpose) where others are, relative to your life's experiences, thus far. I frequently think about this before doing or saying something I know I shouldn't. .......when the 'little boy' in me, comes-out.....

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc. This is when we started wanting to go hunting with the folks we looked up to and/or admired.........to gain acceptance and inclusion into that group.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc. This is when we finally figure-out how to kill ducks and have something to prove to ourself and others. Numbers are the basis of measure for a sense of accomplishment.....usually defining 'success' in relative terms - i.e. when you kill more (or less) than the next guy. Esteem is damaged when somebody else appears more 'successful' than you. Self-sufficiency is a key ingredient to acheiving high slef-esteem.

5. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. This is when you finally realize, you don't have to prove anything to anybody (including yourself) - when you derive gratification when killing becomes merely a matter of pulling the trigger - and you elect not to. You marvel at the raw beauty of nature and your quarry's joy for life despite it's unique sturggles- also realizing it is only concerned with the first 3 'needs' for survival.

If we're lucky - we could eventually reach the self-actualization phase - but maybe not until going through and becoming content with who we are in the previous stages........or maybe not at all.

If you think you have reached your potential, consider these self-actualization characteristics:

• keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgement, rather than subjective
• see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see problems as personal complaints or excuses
• need for privacy and comfortable being alone
• reliant on own experiences and judgement - independent - not reliant on culture and environment to form opinions and views
• not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
• democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and individual styles
• socially compassionate - possessing humanity
• accepting others as they are and not trying to change people
• comfortable with oneself - despite any unconventional tendencies
• a few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
• sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of others
• spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
• excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
• creative, inventive and original
• seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression

I don't know about y'all, but I've got a long way to go, yet........ Maybe part of the self-actualization phase might be taking an interest in a new duck hunter and playing a positive role his/her development......as a fellow human being.

Kinder, gentler, (older) Anatidae........(just don't ask me where a good duck hunting spot is )

Great post, Anat.

Great read, I would have to say I am a mix between a mostly 4 and a recent realization of number 5 showing me that there is something more to all of this.

Don't get me wrong, nature itself is something I crave in the utmost way. It's quite an addiction. However there is still alot of number 4 in me left for the next 30 years.

Life is quite ironic. You turn 55...your wise and gracious...you have your worked your whole life to gain the knowledge and spirituality you have acquired....and yet you have worries about your next bowel movement.

Ain't life grand...

Life presents challenges - at all ages.

It's not what you go through, but how you handle it, that matters. 54 isn't so bad (I don't have much choice). Make the best of it - wherever you are.

I would say that I am rapidly progressing to #5.. I still have my #4 days though.... And sometimes I have to repress my Pavlov's tendencies Sometimes you just come across some posts or situations in life that just leave you salavating if you know what I mean.

Good post.

I had someone recently ask me what i thought being successful meant. Funny how my answer to the question differed from his (older gent). It's funny how you grow as an individual through your trials in life. I hope one day i'll be at 5 until then I'll learn as much as i can.

i love hunting more...

I suppose that I am just a lowly meat hunter --still at level one with my duck hunting for food, eating and enjoying what I kill, and doing so from my shelter (blind).

All that time spent working on the Valley got you thinking all smart and stuff, huh?

The thing we need to understand about Maslow's heirarchy is that it is a "looping" thing with most subjects. It's not a "well, I am now have my self-esteem, I can move on to self-actualization!" I find myself having to go back and re-establish lower levels of experience in many situatuions. I've seen divorces send kids and parents back to the beginning two stages and they have to work back to the highest levels of trust and satisfaction.

I don't see the heirarchy as a static thing like a vaccination for measles. It is more like a framework to understand the actions of anyone in a given slice of his/her life. I believe every part of our lives evolves through, regresses through, and weaves among these levels. It would be a mistake to believe you can understand where a person is coming from, in total, using only this model. It would be great if it were only that simple! Instead, look at each action (and that is all you can measure using this model because no one has yet come up with a way to measure how we think about decision-making) in context with the whole of a person's experience.

In short, don't get too hung up on Maslow; his theory misses on soooo many levels of experience. Instead look at it as a way to inform us with one way to look at someone's action.

You would really be screwed trying to use Maslow in trying to figure out why I have made some of the decisions I have made. My wife's been trying for about 34 years now!

I have on occasion used it as a defense for what I did, though!

search.php?keywords=maslow&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

ahh Mr. Maslow again

the doc

Crow - no wonder I find myself in all levels - about the time I find a sense of balance, something else rocks the boat. Your analysis helped to explain why I am continually frustrated - no 'balance' .

Good read!

Anatidae wrote:Life presents challenges - at all ages.

It's not what you go through, but how you handle it, that matters. 54 isn't so bad (I don't have much choice). Make the best of it - wherever you are.

Truer words have not been spoken. But 54 ain't old. Thanks again for a good read.