Identity and Self-Actualization

IDENTITY AND SELF-ACTUALISATION

Before you can answer the question what am I, you need to first answer the question who am I and what do I stand for? Before you are able to set a goal for yourself you need to figure out what it is that you actually want to achieve in life. Do you want to achieve wealth, fame, a certain level of education or do you want to achieve contentment, inner peace or perhaps contribute to a change in your environment, community or the world? Are your goals directed inward or are they for the benefit of others? Some people just want a job in order to earn money for the short-term until they find something better, while others look at the bigger picture and look for a career which they can continue with in the long-term and at the same time make a difference in society.

We all desire to grow into successful individuals and achieve self-actualisation through the satisfaction of our four different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Personal identity comprises of many different elements and our true identity shines through successfully by establishing and utilising all of these elements. Perceived identity refers to how others see us which might not be clear from glancing at our outward appearance. Thus outward appearance is the foremost and key element through which our identity can be accurately conveyed. Our basic foundation of our identity is our ethnicity and cultural background. This provides the basis for establishing our natural sense of belonging. Cultural differences have throughout history influenced how individuals communicate with one another. High context cultures such as Asian, Indian, Arab and Russian prefer to communicate indirectly, is less verbally explicit and more internal...

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...nd introversion can also be expressed via our outward appearance and how we would like to be perceived by society. Whether we want to believe it or not how we look, how we speak, what we say, our culture, religion and sexuality determines how we will be treated by others.

Reaching a point of self-actualisation has little to do with financial success, but more to do with being free to be who we really are and being accepted for our true selves in world that is constantly telling us who or what we should be like. Setting selfish materialistic goals might benefit ourselves, but it does not benefit others nor does it do anything for our souls. Self-actualisation should not be about ourselves it should be more about how we as individuals can offer ourselves to the community through teaching and sharing what we have gained from reaching our peak potential.