What gives you peace of mind? God at the center of my hierarchy of needs.
Questions asked and answered for my daughters.
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Wow… what gives me peace of mind?
This question is a deep one!
Peace of mind is one of those things that can change in an instant, and answering this question in a recent pandemic year, i.e. year 2020, the concept of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs very relevant.
However, the Hierarchy of Needs is missing a key component that is critical to having peace of mind.
First, What is Peace of Mind?
I interpret peace of mind as…
feeling free from worry.
This is a state of being in your life where you can feel like you can relax, know how you got where you are, and know what’s coming in the immediate future.
Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” Missing Piece
There are elements of life that contribute to attaining the “free from worry” feeling, and those are best described by a model developed by Abraham Maslow. Basically, his research focused on understanding what it takes for humans to survive and feel like they are achieving their life’s purpose — or the ability and reason to live.
In a nutshell, what Maslow presented was a pyramid that explains human desires and requirements for survival. The bottom of the pyramid are the areas that need satisfied first, before moving up to achieve the next set of human needs, and so on through each level.
In the above chart, peace of mind exists at every level. If you achieve the elements at one level, you have peace of mind for that level, so you work on the next.
Of course, we are never feel satisfied, until we reach the top of the pyramid… the place that’s different for everyone. The achievement of your life’s mission.
What is the missing key component?
No where explicitly on the pyramid is your spiritual well-being. One could argue that your relationship with God and its strength and security exists in the middle row… the “Love/belonging” section. Because, God is love.
1 John 4:16
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
I contend that there is a hidden support pole running right up the middle from the bottom to the top called, “Relationship with God.” This runs through all of our human needs, desires, and actions no matter where your life’s status is, so I modified the pyramid:
Peace of mind for me means staying centered and grounded. It means obtaining the elements of each level of the pyramid, but more importantly, knowing that the whole pyramid is supported by one central core.
I realize that I may not have answered the peace of mind question directly, but it comes down to the basics, spiritual growth, and being okay with where you are in life at this moment.
Have faith, and you will have peace of mind.
BONUS:
I wrote a story related to having peace of mind and planning for the “just-in-case” connected to a “Streetless Fire Hydrant” — check it out:
https://medium.com/lessons-from-ordinary/lesson-from-a-streetless-fire-hydrant-aa5e41e28f5f
