When I learned about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in junior college 20 years ago, I thought that all I needed to do was meet the top need for Self-actualization and all the rest would fall into place. I cared little what went into my body but what came out but my mind was a different matter. I saw Self-actualization and the gaining of knowledge as the only valuable goals in life. Until I got sick and nearly died.
I didn’t realize that the food that nourished my body fed my mind until I researched the effect of food on Attention Deficit Disorder. Then I paid attention. In the last 8 months of recovering from a nearly fatal auto-immune deficiency I learned to pay attention to the foundation first.
I recently saw the image of the triangle and saw a word I never saw before in the bottom level. Homeostasis. I looked it up and it has to do with maintaining internal regulation for stability, balance and equilibrium. It makes me think of consistency and this is something I have never had or valued as a spontaneous person who is an ENTP (My Meyer’s Briggs Type).
For me, consistency comes from a regular spiritual practice that includes prayer and meditation as well as writing to get my feelings out.
After 25 years of trying to meditate, I only recently began to have success and see how much more calm I am. The committee in my head is quieter, I worry less, I breath easier. I have always known the benefits of meditation but I have never though of it as necessary to survival but for me, it is. I can’t live with the ups and downs of life without it. I’m way too emotional.And when I get unbalanced, I fall like a house of cards. I don’t eat well, sleep well or think well. And before you know it I want too swallow a bullet. It is that dramatic for me.
Just think, 20 years ago I sat in a classroom and learned about my needs and now at 52, I’m just beginning to pay attention to them.
Filed under: My Healing Journey, Twelve Step Recovey | Tagged: 12 Steps, meditation
