What Is Self-Actualization?

[Leo Gura]

The concept of self-actualization comes to us from the humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow. Maslow defined the self-actualizing human being as follows.

Self-actualization is the expression of your true self, your fullest potential, and your great capacities. Self-actualizing people exhibit the following traits:

• Have a superior perception of reality — they see things in an objective, accepting way without intruding themselves upon what is being perceived.
• Have an increased acceptance of self, others, and nature.
• Have increased spontaneity in behavior — they can be unpredictable and outrageous.
• Are more focused on the problem than themselves.
• Have increased detachment and desire for privacy.
• Have increased autonomy and sense of individuality — take full responsibility for how their lives unfold.
• Are resistant to social conditioning. World-citizens not beholden to any one culture. Pick and choose what they like from culture.
• Are comfortable being themselves even if that means being unpopular.
• Have a good sense of what is real and unreal. Value truth and facts over beliefs.
• Have great freshness of appreciation and richness of emotional reaction.
• Have higher frequency of peak experiences. Being in flow state more often.
• Have an increased identification with the human species.
• Have improved interpersonal relationships.
• Have a more democratic character structure.
• Have greatly increased creativeness.
• Have a deep knowledge of themselves.
• Are constantly moving toward unity and integration of their personality and world view.
• Are actively nurturing their talents.
• Place great value on truth, beauty, goodness, uniqueness, wholeness, justice, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, and playfulness.
• Are driven by positive, intrinsic motivation, not by lack.
• Generally enjoy most aspects of life, not just achievement, triumph, or peak experiences.
• Take pleasure in functioning at their prime.
• Take a non-valuing, non-judging, non-interfering, non-condemning attitude towards others.
• Are more loving. They need love less but are able to give love more.
• Embrace conceptual dichotomies, polarities, and conflicts by fusing, transcending, or resolving. Are comfortable with paradox, contradiction, and not knowing.
• Have desires and impulses that correlate with what's good for them.
• Have solid psychological health.
• Live on purpose with a sense of mission. Work is a precious cause.
• Involved in improving the world.
• Willing to admit and correct mistakes.
• Have an easy self-discipline which comes hard to average people. Duty and pleasure are the same.
• Gratify themselves moderately rather than abstaining through harsh self-discipline.
• Express impulses more yet use less control. Controls are less rigid or anxiety-driven.
• Are able to express their aggression in a healthier way, as a sort of righteous indignation rather than a lashing out.
• Have a different, new set of concerns: being-challenges vs needs-challenges.
• Live to experience joy rather than avoid pain.
• Live in the present moment.
• Make more conscious decisions.

 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: