Is your life feeling out of balance?
No matter what we use as criteria when it comes to experiencing balance in our lives, we have certain needs that need to be filled throughout our lives and the more balanced our fulfillment of these needs, the smoother our boat will sail and the closer to balance we will get.
Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) calls it primary foods (see the Circle of Life in my previous post).
Maslow called it a hierarchy of needs.
Anthony Robbins called it a wheel of life. (see image above)
Whatever we call it, it all comes down to balance. If our life is not in balance then we are in distress.
- Self actualization (morality, creativity, problem solving, learning, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts)
- Esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect)
- Love and belonging (friendship, family and intimacy)
- Safety (security of body, health, family, property, employment, resources and morality)
- Physiological (breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion)
Everyone can rank these in a different order of importance. At the same time, we may each rank them differently at different times in our lives. What is certain? If one of the above is lacking and another is over emphasized, then we are out of balance.
Anthony Robbins does an exercise with a wheel representing career, physical, spiritual and financial. We have to rank each by “how it is going.” Visually we are able to see, for example, that we are doing great financially and physically, but perhaps not spiritually or career-wise. If we are out of balance, our wheel will not roll.
IIN calls it “Primary Foods: Elements such as a meaningful spiritual practice, an inspiring career, regular and enjoyable physical activity and honest and open relationships that feed your soul and your hunger for living all constitute primary food.” Outside our triangle of nutrition is a circle that consists of relationship, spirituality, career and physical activity.
The truth is, we can fix what we eat. We can eat more greens and get rid of processed foods, but if we don’t take care of the other areas of our life, we will still not experience balanced health and happiness. You can be completely healthy with your diet yet still feel imbalanced.
To help you see the topics more clearly, take a look at the following basic needs and ways of fulfillment.
Self Actualization (morality, creativity, problem solving, learning, lack of prejudice and an acceptance of facts)
- Prayer, Thoughtfulness, Meditation
- Journaling
- Fun
- Study
- Spirituality
- Contribution
Esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect)
- Gratitude
- Feelings
Love and Belonging (friendship, family and intimacy)
- Relationship building
- Caregiving
- Forgiveness
- Intimacy
Safety (security of body, health, family, property, employment, resources and morality)
- Environmental safety
- Health & well being
- Job Security
- Career growth
- Financial empowerment
- Environmental preservation
- Ethics and morality
Physiological (breathing, environmental, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion)
- Clean air, meditation, breathing exercise
- Environmental impact on health and well being through design (ex. bringing nature into the home, healthy light, smart space)
- Nutrition
- PH Balance
- Probiotics
- Losing weight
- Better Digestion
- Super foods
- Acai
- Algae
- Aloe Vera
- Bee Products
- Cacao
- Camu Camu Berry
- Chlorella
- Coconut
- Goji Berries
- Hempseed
- Incan Berries
- Kelp
- Maca
- Marine Phytoplankton
- Noni
- Yacon
- Raw Nutrition
- Juicing vs. Blending
- Nuts and Seeds
- Sprouts
- Grasses
- Seaweed
- Roots
- Mushrooms
- Recipes
- Exercise and fitness
- Water, the amount and cleanliness
- Intimacy as a physical need
- Amount and quality of sleep
- Digestion
- Bodily function, sight, hearing, pain
- Cleansing
- Illness and healing
We will be focusing on each topic as part of total wellness. Look forward to future blogs for more tips on how to improve the quality of our lives. If you have any categories you would like added to each need, please comment below.
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