Abraham Maslow spent his life studying what makes you and I do the things we do.
Here are a few conclusions from his work:
- Humans first need food, shelter, and a functioning body.
- Once those needs are met, they go on a search for more love, belonging, and respect from other people.
- Most of them never receive that love, belonging, and respect from others.
- So they compensate for it by being critical of themselves and others.
In our deprivation of identity we “need” others to look and think like we do.
So we create exclusive clubs, lifestyles, beliefs, fads, and fashion statements to recruit like-minded individuals to validate us.
And when they don’t, we criticize them because that’s the way to stay “safe” in our identity.
But “safe” and “happy” are two different things.
Maslow concluded that truly happy people look at differences with an open mind, a childlike excitement of what they’ll discover next. Their curiosity fuels their happiness.
Even better —happy/curious people transform unhappy/critical people with the interest and respect they give them (it’s impossible to dislike a person who is curious about you 🙂).
Do you want to feel more loved, included and respected?
Do you want the people around you to feel the same?
It’s time to be more curious, my friend.
Criticism says: You are different than me and that is a threat.
Curiosity says: You are different than me and I can’t wait to find out why.
Go find out why – It’ll change your life 👊🏻👊🏻
BW
