Question

“As a recreational therapist, how can you help client’s reach self-actualization?”

Answer 1

Self-actualisation is a desire or motivation for self-fulfillment and realising ones full potential.Self actualisation doesn't make you better than someone else. It makes you more fully yourself, whatever that might be.Actualisation is highly personal. Your highest potential might be very different than someone else's. Trying to compare yourself or be someone else's version of actualised will just take you off track.It's true that those who Maslow listed as self actualised tended to be well-known, wealthy individuals. But he elsewhere stressed that self-actualisation isn't about status or self-esteem. For example, a man living in a jungle and communing with nature, if he has a deep talent for this and feels fully aligned, could be seen as actualised.Self actualisation is about living out your values and gifts and being authentic.
The point being that we don't reach self actualisation as a finish line. We might get to a point in life where we are living out our talents and values and are actualised, but there will still be challenges. And there can still be further growth from those challenges.Self-actualization is defined as the desire to become more and more of what one is, to become everything that one is capable of being.This is the highest human need. Once all needs that are lower in the hierarchy have been met, this need has to be met failure of which leads to a sense of meaninglessness, and could even lead to suicide. Maslow identified some of the characteristics of self-actualized individuals as including the sense of adventure and novelty.Self-actualized individuals are not afraid to try new things, new ways of doing things, and new ideas, or to reconsider old ideas in a new way. They are energized by novelty.Confidence: Self-actualized individuals are comfortable with themselves, and they do not rely too much on approval by other people.Non-prejudicial: Self-actualized individuals are open minded and accepting of others from a variety of backgrounds. They are comfortable with ideas and viewpoints that are different from theirs.Empathic: Self-actualized individuals empathize with humanity in general.
•Above polarities: Self-actualized individuals are neither good nor bad, neither introvert nor extrovert, and so on. They transcend polarities.