On Being a Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe)
An excerpt from The Wellness Ethic:
According to the American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, people are motivated by five needs: (1) physiological necessities (food, water, shelter), (2) safety, (3) love and belonging, (4) esteem, and (5) self-actualization, the highest state. A self-actualized person realizes their full potential in life. As Maslow wrote in 1943 (please excuse his antiquated masculine prose): “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. What a man can be, he must be.”
To expand upon this concept, a self-actualized person—or Self-Actualized Genius (SAGe) in Wellness Ethic-speak—prioritizes thriving in their life. Wellness, to the extent that it can be influenced, is the natural outcome.
Your SAGe represents your best self. It is your internal guiding force that nudges you to promote well-being. When your SAGe steers your life, you:
o Know your life purpose and move forward in that direction with passion, confidence, and resilience.
o Tend to your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
o Feel connected to the universe and develop loving relationships.
o Have a positive, value-centered approach to life that honors your autonomy and authenticity.
o Choose love-centered responses to your circumstances.
o Pursue experiences that bring love, happiness, and fulfillment to your life and the lives of others.
o Minimize suffering because you understand that impermanence is an inescapable reality of how the universe works.
o Accept the perfection of your imperfect existence.
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I wrote The Wellness Ethic to help you on your noble and invigorating path to living a SAGe-inspired life. When you move forward confidently in that direction, you will, in Henry David Thoreau’s words “meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Every step you take in the direction of your dreams, every SAGe-inspired response you choose to your circumstances, will move your life forward. Even if it’s a baby step, it’s progress. When you live like a SAGe, you thrive!
Why not start today? What can you do today to live like a SAGe? How can you move your life forward? Once you take that step, what deliberate SAGe-inspired action can you take tomorrow to keep your streak alive? If you repeat that behavior enough times, it’ll become habitual. It will change your thoughts. It will change who you are. It’s all upside!
