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DAY 1 – BREAKTHROUGH: FEAR INTO POWER
Question #3: Why do we do what we do?
How is it that one person will sacrifice his own life for another, while another person will murder a stranger for
sheer pleasure? What creates a Charles Manson or a Nelson Mandela? A Jeffrey Dahmer or a John F. Kennedy?
A terrorist or a Dr. Martin Luther King?
No matter who you are in the world, or what you do, there’s a common force that’s driving and shaping all your
emotions and actions. It determines the quality of our lives, and ultimately, our destinies. These primal needs
have been encoded into our nervous systems over centuries. Although each of us is a unique and special soul,
we’re all wired in very much the same way.
There are 6 Human Needs – fundamental drives within each one of us – that compel us forward in a quest
to experience a life of meaning. There is no conscious effort necessary, our will to satisfy these primal needs
is automatic.
The 4 Primal Needs
1.
Everybody wants stability about their basic necessities –
food, shelter, and other material resources. When people
cannot control their physical circumstances, they may
seek certainty through a state of mind (such as religious
faith or a positive outlook).
3.
Everybody needs to feel special and important in
some way. People will seek significance through
obtaining recognition from others or from themselves.
When people feel insignificant, they may make
themselves feel significant by getting angry. Others
might try to feel significant due to the size or
complexity of their problems.
2.
People have a need to change their state, to exercise
their body and emotions. Therefore they seek variety
through a number of means – stimuli, change of scene,
physical activity, mood swings, entertainment, food, etc.
4.
Humans need to feel connected with someone or
something – a person, an ideal, a value, a habit, or
a sense of identity. Connection may take the form of
love, or it may be created by a sense of belonging,
or a spiritual sense. Like any of the 6 Human Needs,
people can fulfill their need for connection and love in
positive or negative ways.
The 2 Spiritual Needs
5.
Everything is either growing or dying. It doesn’t
matter how much money you have, how many people
acknowledge you or what you have achieved. Unless
you feel like you’re growing, you will be unhappy
and unfulfilled.
6.
We all have a deep need to go beyond ourselves
and to live a life that serves the greater good. In the
moments that we do this, we experience true joy and
fulfillment. Contribution is the ultimate secret to the joy
that so many people wish to have in their lives.
Answers: 6 Human Needs, Certainty, Uncertainty / Variety, Significance, Connection / Love, Growth, Contribution