Fulfilling Personal Needs:
All people strive throughout life to fulfill a large range of needs. Inability to fulfill important needs may trigger enduring discontent, unhappiness, stress, and suffering. A hierarchy of needs, first described by psychologist Abraham Maslow, range from the most basic, to those most far reaching. The experience of suffering entails a sense of harm and threat shadowing, and potentially overcoming us. Humans often judge suffering as: avoidable/unavoidable, desired/undesired, meaningful/not meaningful, and needful/needless. The hierarchy of needs include:
Maintaining Values
Values are core goals or standards that provide meaning, purpose, and direction in life. When life circumstances force us to abandon our values, mental and physical health problems may ensue. Examples of values that we embrace, and try to preserve include ( Borrowed from “A Values Card Sort”, by William R. Miller, Janet C’de Baca, Daniel B.Matthews, and Paula L. Wilbourne):