What is the human givens organising idea?
Human beings are living organisms and so therefore have physical needs in order to maintain life. The same can be said for our emotional health, we have emotional needs that are to be met if we are to feel mentally well.
What are the emotional needs?
Autonomy - a feeling of being in control of the decisions we can make
Achievement - being stretched and learning new things, feeling like we are achieving
Community - being part of something bigger than just ourselves, perhaps work colleagues, a social group or geographical space with others
Privacy - having regular time to just reflect and think through some of those inner thoughts
Intimacy - having just one other person who knows us and we have a connection to
Attention - giving and receiving enough and the right attention to feel the need is met
Status - maybe in a family or friend group, or perhaps at work
Security - those things that make like feel safe, finances, housing, relationships
Meaning & Purpose - knowing that our life is worth while and there is a reason for me.
How can we meet them?
Through our innate and external resources!
Our innate resources are: Empathy; Long term memory; Emotions; Dreaming brain; Imagination; Pattern matching brain; Observing self; Rational thinking.
Our external resources might be: Our hobbies; Relationships with others; Our work, to name just a few.
What stops me meeting my needs?
Environment - if we’re honest sometimes the places we spend our time are not emotionally healthy places and if we were to move onto somewhere different it may help. But, this isn’t the only thing. There are systemic barriers in our environment where we can do everything in our control and it may be that our emotional needs are still not being met.
Lack of coping skills - we need to learn these skills! It might be how to breathe to calm our emotional arousal, it might be grounding techniques, it might be how to not let others’ opinion of us affect us so much.
Internal guidance system - our brains are incredible organs and the more we learn the more we realise we don’t know. But, there are things that can result in this guidance system being hijacked. Some examples of this are trauma or a brain injury.
What does this have to do with me?
There are times for all of us when we don’t feel well, both physically and mentally. By understanding some of the ideas behind these feelings, it can help us gain some more control over meeting our needs. If you’d like to find out more about the practical ways I do this you can book a Taking Flight workshop or book a free 20 minute consultation to see if I can support you in your discovery.
