Pathwalking 58
I want to share some guidance I have received as I have been walking my own path.
Whether you consider him a visionary or a shyster, Tony Robbins has been an influential figure in the lives of a great many people over the last couple decades. While I do not necessarily agree with everything he presents, he does more often than not seem to me to share my philosophy. Consciousness creates reality: The core of Pathwalking.
One thing Tony Robbins talks about is what he calls the “six core human necessities”, and I find I am in agreement with this idea. He postulates that we all need certainty, uncertainty, significance, love and connection, growth, and contribution. Note that there are paradoxes in these core needs.
Yes, more paradoxes. But if you’ve not realized it by now, life is all about the paradoxical.
For the most part, I have discussed here that Pathwalking is a lone process. Your path is for you alone, and while others may be along it from time to time, we all walk our own individual path. What works for me, may not work for you, and vice versa.
But I have begun now to explore where we do need to look without, and not just within, to walk the path of our choosing. Like all things in life, balance and moderation are necessary.
While certainty (the need for security), uncertainty (the need for variety), significance (the need for feeling wanted and worthy), growth and contribution can come from within, love and connection needs to have an outside element.
Everything in life is an “inside job”. It is imperative that I know who I am, learn what I want, and get to know MYSELF to do anything or go anywhere I would choose to in this life. Feelings come from within, and since feelings are the root of even thought, everything begins inside.
So this is why certainty, uncertainty, significance and growth and contribution wholly must be faced from the inside. Yes, outside influence will effect these in many ways from time to time, but ultimately I choose these feelings and what to do with them.
But love and connection reaches outside. You can connect with yourself all you want, but as mentioned before, as social animals, we NEED to make connections outside of ourselves.
Reaching out to make connections, like everything else, starts within. We connect our own heart and mind, and from there we can make connections outside. We stretch out with our hearts and minds to find connections in the world at large. This takes all sorts of forms, both simple and complex. But it is this process that we must perform in order to be all that we want to be.
As mentioned many times prior, we have to love ourselves first. But love is meant to be shared, and for that, we need other people in our lives. Love of course takes on all kinds of forms, platonic, romantic, and uncountable shades between these variables. Love is the key to happiness, love is the root of most of what makes the world go round. I have argued before that love is an immense part of what makes life worth living.
Problem is, love is scary. Because love does not just have one opposite, it actually has many. Rejection, hatred, fear, anger, indifference, disdain, misery…these are just a small sampling of love’s opposites. Arguably, almost any negative thought or emotion is the opposite of love. And sometimes attempting to put out love draws these reactions. That can be horrifying. It is for this reason that many people avoid love.
But if you avoid love from without, it becomes unbelievably easy to avoid loving yourself, too. And when you do not love yourself, it becomes neigh on impossible to accomplish…frankly, much of anything.
Remember – love is abundant. It can be found everywhere. Do not fear love, embrace it (literally and metaphorically). Letting in love will make Pathwalking a more appealing and easier task.
Six core necessities for every human being. Can it possibly be that simple?
I believe that EVERYBODY needs certainty, uncertainty, significance, love and connection, growth, and contribution. I will explore each of these more in depth with their part in Pathwalking over the next several weeks. I think that they are the teeth of the key to Pathwalking, and deserve further investigation.
Do these six needs resonate with you?
This is the fifty-eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
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