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To share with you what I do (and do not do), I need to explain a little about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I’m neither a psychologist nor an expert in Maslow’s theory, but I find it helpful.
Who’s Maslow?
Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist (1908-1970) whose work was very different from psychologists before him. He called his work “positive psychology,” because those before him had focused on illness and abnormality while Maslow focused on creating health, wellness, and wholeness in an individual.
The Hierarchy of Needs is a visual representation of his motivational theory, first published in the 1940’s. Maslow asserted that human beings are motivated to meet our needs, and deficiencies in the the needs in the lower levels of the pyramid will inhibit our growth and movement to higher levels of the pyramid.
This doesn’t mean that we cannot move up the triangle until a lower need is completely met, or that we do not sometimes descend back down the triangle.
Let me give you a couple examples.
- Our need for food will never be 100% met because it returns. If we have reason to believe that we will be able to meet our hunger need when it returns, it will not prevent us from working on other needs. However, if we are not able to meet our need for food, we will have a hard time doing anything else, such as building friendships or appreciating art.
- A life event, such as the death of a spouse or divorce, may not only shatter our sense of sense of love and belonging, but even trigger concerns over safety (resources, property) and physiological (sleep, shelter, sex) needs. We may find more of our time spent on needs at the lower level of the pyramid than before the event.
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Expansion of the Five Stages
Maslow continued to refine and expand his theory throughout his life. The five stages of the original pyramid were expanded to include eight, as shown below.
In the 1960’s, he founded the school of transpersonal psychology with some other noteded psychologists like Viktor Frankl. Maslow realized that humanistic psychology was incapable of explaining all the aspects of human experience, especially mystical, ecstatic and spiritual experiences. He called these “peak experiences,” beyond self-actualization.
After Stage 4–Esteem, Stage 5–Cognition was added. Cognition is gaining knowledge and understanding (wisdom), being curious and satisfying our curiosity, exploring, searching for meaning, and making sense of life, the world and our place in it.
Stage 6–Aesthetic Needs is about searching for and appreciating beauty.
Self-actualization became Stage 7. While peak experiences were originally in this category, the revision placed them in a category of their own, Stage 8–Transcendence Needs. At this point, a person’s values transcend just their personal self. They are motivated by a desire to maintain their self-actualized state and to help others reach this level of existence as well.
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So What Is a Spiritual Health and Wellness Coach?
In short, a spiritual health and wellness coach is someone who helps you move toward self-actualization.
Some people are able to travel as far up the pyramid as they desire on their own; others require assistance. Social service agencies, educational institutions, and the business sector assist with Stages 1 and 2. Counselors (social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists) assist with Stages 3 and 4. Spiritual health and wellness coaches assist with Levels 5, 6, 7, and 8. That’s an oversimplification, because there is overlap between the three levels of assistance, but, generally speaking, that addresses why someone would consult with a spiritual health and wellness coach–because cognition, aesthetic needs, self-actualization and transcendence almost always require someone to show us the way.
A spiritual health and wellness coach help you discover three things:
Who You Are
We tend to define ourselves in terms of what we do (our job–banker, teacher, lawyer; our roles–wife, mother, sibling). But we are more than our actions and our roles. At our core, we ARE. Each of us is a unique combination of personality, thought, preference, and identity.
Can you define yourself apart from what you do?
Your Purpose
The unique person that you are brings something to this world that only you can bring. You have a purpose for being.
Others may have similar gifts or similar purposes, but there is only one of you!
Do you know your purpose?
What You Do
Who you are and what you are here for must be expressed in the world. This may or may not be your vocational (or employment) role. But you must have a way to express who you are and to accomplish that purpose for which you exist.
Do you know how to express who you are? Are you accomplishing your purpose?
When who you are, why you are here and what you are doing align, you experience fulfillment, satisfaction and meaningfulness in life. Share on XWhen they do not align, you experience frustration and listlessness.
If you cannot answer all three of these questions, I can help.
If you do not like the answers, I can help.
Got questions?
Leave a comment or send me an email.