Self-Realization: The most important goal in your life (according to Plato)

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:

1. Finding it important to develop yourself.
2. 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:

1. People with high levels of internal motivation.
2. People who are creative enough to take charge of their own lives.
3. Having the desire to develop yourself .
4. Eager to have a high social standing in social interactions.
5. 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.

If that’s the case, there’s a good chance you’re not living according to your own values—according to what you truly want to prioritize deep down. You’re no longer happy with what you’re 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 is a signal from your inner self that it is time to treat self-realization as your life’s purpose .

First and foremost, self-acceptance is important. Accepting the fact that you’re not 100% satisfied with your life is, in fact, the first step.

Next, you have to ask yourself: But what do I want? In what area do I want to develop myself?

So, this requires creativity, and it has to be something that motivates you from within. You want it because it gives you a sense of fulfillment.

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 to have a vision of where you want to go. If you don’t have a clear one, 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.

This gives an indication of how you envision your ideal self, and the beauty of it is that, as a client, you don’t even realize you’re working toward that goal. So you aren’t hindered by limiting beliefs when creating this vision.

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.

If you didn’t have a supportive home environment, this can prevent you from knowing how to get attention in a normal, healthy way and how to collaborate with others.

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 simply to be able to pay for your date (even if it’s just your own share).

As you can see, it can take quite some time in your life before you get the feeling that you need to live differently after all—that you want to live more in line with your own values. This feeling often doesn’t come until things are actually going pretty well, but still not quite right.

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 little 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.

Your upbringing may have led you to believe, for example, that you have to do everything on your own, because your parents let you figure everything out for yourself.

Early teenage relationships can lead you to believe that people of the opposite sex cannot be trusted.

You might think you can’t say “no” at work, which leads you to burn out instead of acknowledging that maybe things need to be different.

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 use regression to help you identify which beliefs are preventing you from finding a job that suits you, or from allowing 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 in a dialogue with your inner child is precisely a technique that helps resolve relationship issues that originated in childhood. This helps you develop greater understanding and compassion for yourself and even for the people who caused you problems back then. This doesn’t mean that what happened was right, but it allows you to let it go and not carry it with you for 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 check out the free masterclass to get started.

Or sign up for one of our events or training programs.

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