Mentally / emotionally there are 6 basic human needs we all need to meet. Certainty, uncertainty, significance, love or connection, growth and contribution. The first four are our primal needs, the last two our spiritual needs. People find ways to meet these needs in positive, negative or neutral ways, but everyone finds ways to meet them. Over the next several weeks we will explore each one.
Certainty is having the feeling of stability in our life. We all need to feel certain about our ability to have food, clothing and shelter. Sometimes it’s our faith or positive outlook on life.
Think about the positive actions or memories that give the feeling of certainty. For me it comes from interaction with my wife and children. Feeling confident in my skills teaching or as a Martial Artist. My ability to run the dojo.
Think about ways you may receive certainty from a negative action. Some may be low level negatives such as wasting time. Some people have high level negatives in their lives such as drugs and alcohol. The key is to identify these areas and minimize them.
Since the beginning of the year I’ve ended 1 - 1 ½ hours of TV time at the end of the night and created 2 hours of productive time first thing in the morning. The TV time gave me certainty in a neutral / negative way, the 2 hours of productive time are feeding certainty still but in a far more productive way.
What habits can you change from a negative way to feel certainty to a positive way?
