Are you well on your way to your dream job, your dream education or your dream career, yet still find yourself struggling with unhappiness, unfulfilling relationships, or chronic vague feelings of emptiness, alienation, or boredom?
Why might this be the case? Also, why isn’t this making you happy?
Part of the problem is that we believe we are taking care of ourselves by going to work, getting things done, meeting our goals, and achieving success. These activities are often mistaken as the whole of our basic needs, when they are actually only a part of them.
Our basic human needs go far beyond achievement in our work and careers.
As human beings, we have a full spectrum of needs: including nurturance, relaxation, and calmness of mind. We need equanimity such that if our success goes away, we still know our inherent value and dignity. We also need to have meaningful connections to others.
Furthermore, we aren’t really rewarded in the popular culture for cultivating this “full spectrum” philosophy toward living. External signs of success, whatever they may be – the career, house, car, etc., are frequently emphasized, but what’s happening internally is often ignored.
Therapy helps us look at this, now. Even though we already know that our needs are more than our work, it seems the hectic pace of our lives cause many of us to live in auto-pilot mode, in which it is easy to forget our basic needs. Therapy helps us to integrate our basic needs into our daily life.
