A Foal is the Great Spirit's way of saying the Universe should continue.
...and she was born a few blocks from our house. I stopped yesterday to snap this picture. The owner saw me, and said it was fine for me to take the picture, "He had to have horses and dogs," he said.
My kind of guy.
My security was tested this morning. My Internet was off for a couple of hours. Yikes!
And then I though a terrible thought, what if some diabolical somebody decided to turn it off for an extended period of time?
Whoa. We’d be in deep doo-doo.
Once, a friend and I visited Patch Adams, M.D. who was speaking in Eugene, Oregon. My friend asked Patch how he remained happy when he saw such atrocities. (Gesundheit Inst. See the movie Patch Adams with Robin Williams as Patch.),
“That’s when I need it the most,” he said.
Yes, but that’s a WHY, not a HOW.
Why you need it, not how to get it.
We have taken a blow in this country. The world has taken a blow. We have been constantly bombarded with angst, lies, threats, and things we held dear being taken away. Our kids are addicted to cell phones and social media. Freedoms have crumbled. Comedians and late-night talk show hosts who speak out against the administration have been fired, or are under constant threat of losing their jobs. If we are not living under a dictatorship, I don’t know what is.
Yesterday, I saw that government officials can text the president directly. However, first they must preface it with praise.
It’s time we threw off our fake prince and princess suits, and the frog suit beneath it, and let our true Prince and Princess come out to play. They are strong. They are invincible.
Don’t think because we speak of them gently as Princes and Princesses that they lack guts. Americans have always had guts. But we try to play by the rules, except when someone comes in and trashes the rule book, we get mad.
Beware of Princes and Princesses.
And now, dear Princes and Princesses, let’s talk about what I intended to talk about before I got distracted.
You may have heard of the psychologist Abraham Maslow, who made quite a splash in the 70’s and coined the phrase "self-actualized human being."
His innovative idea was: “Let’s study what’s working instead of what’s not working.”
He wanted to understand what made people happy, fulfilled, and capable of extraordinary creativity and compassion.
Maslow looked at people who seemed to be functioning well, were happy, and well-adjusted. They weren’t suffering from neurosis or trauma. And they seemed motivated to improve their lives.
(Except right now, we are all suffering from trauma. Neurosis? Maybe, I don’t know.)
Maslow believed that it is the human journey to grow. And that growth is a need.
Maslow termed this as becoming self-actualized.
By looking at people he considered self-actualized, he developed a hierarchy of FIVE NEEDS. He proposed that when those needs are met, a person moves into self-actualization.
Don’t get me or him wrong; it isn’t always a linear journey. Circumstances can knock us off the ladder from time to time. Crisis occurs, such as loss of a job, financial ruin, scarcity, failed relationships, being hungry, thirsty, those sorts of needs. And how does one become self-actualized in a war zone?
I list the hierarchy of needs at the end of this content, for it is tedious to read through them until we know more.
Read to the end for A NUMBER SIX you will love it.
If we all lived in finely feathered nests, we wouldn’t be suffering lack, would we? We could reach this magical pinnacle with ease. Maybe.
Maybe it’s the human journey that takes us there. And we need to walk the steps; it is a road map from which we sometimes take detours.
the number 1 list of needs spells out our basic needs, which not everyone has. They are our physiological needs, which are food, water, sleep, warmth, and reproduction, which is not a need but necessary to continue the race.
Number 2 are safety needs. We see that not only is physical safety necessary, but also protection from violence, accidents, or environmental hazards.
Health and well-being include financial security, housing, legal and social stability, protection from injustice, discrimination, and oppression.
Safety and stability are at our core. Without a sense of security, people live in a constant state of vigilance or fear. Think of what that does to one’s mental health.
A child in an abusive or chaotic environment may grow up to be anxious, mistrustful, or emotionally distant. And even if needs like food and sleep are met, the lack of safety can prevent a child from thriving.
Individuals living in war zones, refugees fleeing violence, or people trapped in poverty are often unable to move beyond the need for basic safety.
In the workplace, where jobs are at risk, stress dominates, and productivity drops.
Many fear for their livelihoods, jobs, and financial security, yet prices are rising. They fear wars, yet there is a rattling of one, they fear environmental crisis, and daily they see that water is contaminated, air is polluted, whales are dying, polar bears are starving and stranded on ice floes, and an asteroid is hurling toward us. I had to throw that in for its whatever: volcanoes, earthquakes, a financial crash, people who speak out against the administration are being taken off the air, rumors that elections are not safe or truthful, and gerrymandering that makes voting districts unbalanced .Why are we allowing this?
Doesn’t it appear to you that pundits and our present administration have made damn sure the need for basic security is taken away from us, and have made it doubly hard for us to get it back?
Health and wellness:
During the pandemic, people were reminded about how fragile this sense of safety can be. Widespread anxiety, hoarding, and economic paralysis are all symptoms of safety needs suddenly being threatened.
Can we wonder why we all went a little crazy?
So, when a rich individual came along and declared he could “Make America Great Again,” people rallied to the slogan. (He’s rich, he must know about finances, and they didn’t dream he would start his own war.)
Some believed he was selling snake oil.” And then he appointed a person as the Secretary of Health and Human Services who is so health-conscious that he takes steroids to beef up his body, a chemical to tan him, sniffs cocaine off a toilet seat, and has recently grabbed an alive rattlesnake behind the head.
Ultimately, safety is the gateway to trust and progress. People who feel safe are better equipped to form relationships, develop their talents, and take constructive steps toward long-term goals.
Maslow reminds us that stability is not a luxury—it is a necessity.
While the first two levels of needs focus on survival and stability, the next level speaks of the emotional and social aspects of human life. For many, feeling loved is just as vital as food and shelter.
When people feel supported and loved, their mental health improves, and they are more likely to pursue higher goals.
(While it is wonderful to feel loved, sometimes, whether we have love or not, we still go for higher goals. Louise Hay of Hay House Publishing says if you learn to love yourself you change your life. That is not a selfish act, but an essential one.) However, having the human spirit injured by a lack of love causes profound distress.
Self-esteem influences virtually every area of life—how we think, feel, and relate to others.
A student or an employee who feels isolated may underperform regardless of their talents.
A strong sense of self empowers individuals to take on challenges, to pursue goals, and to build healthy relationships. It promotes residency, curiosity, and a willingness to learn from failure.
A low sense of self is associated with anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, and underachievement, and an excessive reliance on the opinions of others.
Esteem Needs are the gateway to self-actualization. Enter that gate, and you shift from gaining approval to living at a higher level.
Unlike the earlier needs, self-actualization is the pinnacle of psychological development. It is, a desire to become more.
It might mean academic achievement, parenting, artistic achievement, or spiritual development. It involves a deep inner harmony.
These individuals often devote themselves to causes larger than themselves. They are driven by curiosity, compassion, and a desire to make a meaningful impact.
And then Maslow delved into the 6th Need. He called it “Self-transcendence.”
It can be a desire to help others to achieve their potential. It could be an experience of unity with nature or with the Universe. It is the ability to have Peak experiences. Which are fleeting and often surprising or unaccounted for, yet we have all touched them at some moment in our lives: the feeling of awe, of a scene, a sunset, a sunrise, standing in the redwoods, 200-year-old trees that take care of each other. of gasping at a whale breaching—his body completely leaping from the water, finishing a project, having a success, feeling an oneness with the universe, of intense gratitude or love, a sudden insight or clarity.
Maslow pays particular attention to Peak Experiences. This intersects with spirituality, philosophy, and ethics. It resonates with various religious traditions, which emphasize humility, compassion, and interconnections.
The sixth level, at the top, invites us to think bigger, not just what we want to become, but how we can serve, connect, and elevate others.
See you at the top!
Here is a list of Maslow’s 5 Needs:
1. Psychological Needs:
· Food,
· water,
· air,
· sleep,
· warmth,
· reproduction (While not a need, it is a necessity to continue the race.)
2. Safety Needs:
· Physical,
· financial,
· health (access to medical care),
· environment,
· shelter,
· predictable surroundings
3. Love and Belonging Needs:
· Friendships,
· intimate relationships,
· a sense of acceptance,
· family connections,
· community involvement,
· inclusion.
4. Esteem Needs
· Achieving and competence
· Recognition from peers or society
· A sense of worthiness and accomplishment
5.Self-actualizing Needs:
· Spiritual Exploration
· Artistic or creative expression
· Intellectual growth
· Humanitarian work
· Inventing or leading
· Pursuing a lifetime dream
Now go to Number 6.
A student or an employee who feels isolated may underperform regardless of their talents.