Self-realization is about the idea of optimizing yourself completely. It's about realizing your personal potential by developing yourself and achieving personal goals.
Both psychologists and philosophers agree that self-actualization is an important goal in life for long-term happiness. Both Plato and Aristotle believed that a person cannot be truly happy without self-actualization. Reaching one's potential. Developing oneself until one cannot develop oneself further. They even considered self-development a moral activity.
You do it because self-actualization is the right or good thing to do with your life[1].
What is important during self-actualization?
There are a number of factors that are important for people getting started with self-actualization, namely:
- Finding it important to develop yourself.
- Have a clear picture of your life and where you want to go.
There are also a number of traits that are important for making the process of self-realization succeed, or continue. These can be identified by:
- People with high levels of internal motivation.
- People who are creative enough to lead themselves.
- Have the will to develop yourself .
- Eager to have a high social standing in social interactions.
- And eagerly gathering knowledge[2].
Transforming yourself with self-actualization
You may notice at some point in your life that things are not going well. That you reluctantly go to work. Or even worse, that you go home from work reluctantly.
Then chances are you are not living by your own values, by what you actually want to prioritize deep down. You are no longer happy with what you are doing.
Of course, you still have moments that you enjoy, such as hanging out with friends and going to the movies. However, this can suddenly feel superficial, and after that moment has passed, a sense of "being content" does not linger.
That's a signal from your inner self that it's time to treat self-actualization as a life goal .
First and foremost, self-acceptance is important. In fact, accepting your feeling that you are not completely 100% satisfied with your life is the first step.
Next, you have to ask yourself: But what do I want? In what area do I want to develop myself?
So for this you need creativity, and in doing so it has to be something that motivates you internally. You want it because it gives you satisfaction.
Doing something for money or other rewards does not work then, because that is external motivation. The goal in itself, so to speak, is the reward in internal motivation.
Hypnotherapist for Vision
So it's helpful that you have a vision of where you want to go. If you don't have one clearly, a hypnotherapist can help.
There are multiple techniques a hypnotherapist can use to give you a specific goal. If you really can't quite picture what you want yet, for example, the magic mirror technique helps you figure out very secretly what image makes you absolutely happy right now.
That gives an indication of how you envision your ideal self, and the beauty is, with this technique, as a client you don't even know that's something you're working toward. So you are not hindered by awkward beliefs to create this image.
Another technique, once you have a good picture in front of you, is progression. In this case, a therapist helps you see the picture in front of you and know in a certain time frame what steps you will take to reach this goal.
Best of all!
You work from your goal back to the moment in the chair. So it feels more like descending a mountain, rather than having to climb a whole mountain.
What if your foundation isn't right?
At the same time, you may have this negative feeling and feel like you're stuck where you are because you don't have the resources to, say, find another job or enter into a new relationship or something similar.
Very annoying, but somewhere very logical.
Indeed, according to Maslow's Pyramid, self-actualization is something that is only possible when all other parts of the pyramid are filled[3]. (Very briefly.)
In fact, your motivation is determined by your needs. For example, as a child, you need attention and nourishment, so you are motivated to listen to your parents (if that helps for attention and nourishment) or to make a little noise (if that actually helps for attention and to get the food you want).
You can already see from this that the basics can go all wrong when it comes to being able to realize yourself later in life.
In fact, if you did not have a nice home situation, this can cause you to not know how to get attention and work with others in a normal healthy way.
Because when you get a little older, you want to be able to own a home and take care of your own food. For this you have to work, and that includes, giving and receiving attention to other people. If only because you need certain parts for equipment.
If you feel you have a safe house over your head and nourishment in your belly. Then you can move on, for example, by gaining knowledge. That knowledge can help you, for example, get a nicer house or have money to go on social outings with other people.
Or to simply be able to afford your date (even if it's just your own half).
So you see, it can take quite a while in your life to feel that you need to live differently after all. That you want to live more according to your own values, because you often only get this feeling when everything is actually going well, but still not quite.
It also took me a long time to make the click from construction worker to hypnosis trainer, but it all has to do with motivation and whether my foundation was right.
In my case, it even has a bit to do with post-traumatic growth, but that's another story.
You do see in the construction of the pyramid that anything can happen in the course of your life that gets in the way of self-realization. The most irritating thing is no - that if you are very smart - you will find that you are mainly standing in your own way, because experiences from your life have given you beliefs about how the world works and how you "should" function in it.
You may think because of your upbringing that you have to do everything yourself, for example, because your parents made you figure everything out on your own.
You may think through early teenage relationships that people of the opposite sex cannot be trusted.
You may think you can't say "no" at work, working yourself into burnout instead of giving in to that feeling that maybe things should be different after all.
Hypnosis to get the basics right for self-actualization
With a hypnotherapist, you can find out what beliefs are making it difficult for you to choose your own goals.
For example, a hypnotherapist can help you use regression to figure out what beliefs are holding you back from finding a job that suits you, or giving yourself the time and money to take up a particular hobby.
These can be all kinds of beliefs, but often they were formed in your childhood. In fact, that is the period in your life when you subconsciously determine how the world works and what you must do to sustain yourself.
However, we usually don't consciously evaluate those beliefs and, as a result, childhood beliefs can affect you well into your adult life.
With regression, you work with a therapist to ensure that if those beliefs are not helpful, you fix them so that they no longer hinder you[4].
Your foundation will then be put in order.
In that regression technique, there are again several things a therapist can do to fix the belief. Fears, for example, are then often treated with the fast phobia technique. This technique allows you to detach the feeling from the moment, because you make it clear to your subconscious that that is no longer the case.
In Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training program, you will learn this technique as well.
Engaging the conversation with the inner child is precisely a technique that helps resolve problems in relationships that originated in childhood. In this way, you gain more understanding and compassion for yourself and even for people who caused problems at the time. This does not mean that what happened is good, but it ensures that you let it go and do not take it with you in the rest of your life.
This, too, is covered in Hypnosis Institute Nedeland's training.
Getting started with hypnosis
Do you want to help yourself or others with self-actualization? Then knowledge of hypnosis is a great way.
Come to the free master class for an introduction.
Or register for one of our events or trainings.
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