The Needs Satisfaction Cycle

Needs come with little alarms that appear in everyone, so that they can be met. Once we meet them, we feel complete, fulfilled, calmed down and we can move on to solving other needs that appear little by little. For our mental, physical and emotional health, it is fundamental to listen to them, to identify them and to satisfy them. Otherwise, they often turn into physical or psychological disorders.

They can be of many types: physiological, existential, emotional… And they always tell us about what is important to us. These are our authenticity alarms. They are intimately linked to our true essence and for that very reason  we must be able to identify them in order to resolve them.

But because we are sometimes a little complicated, we ourselves take care of cutting parts of this cycle of meeting needs. We take care of turning a deaf ear to an alarm, or of completing it only halfway because we are unable to separate ourselves from this object which would help us to satisfy it …

Resistance prevents us from meeting the needs we have

There are many ways not to complete these requests, and all have to do with the resistances and fears that keep us from doing what we really need to do. We cannot deny our nature or admit that sometimes there are needs that we want to meet, but it is social or ethical conventions that hold us back.

We are therefore complex human beings. There is an intense and primary animal instinct within us that we cannot deny. And there is an ethic and a moral underlying much of our culture that we can only see. And it is in this balance that we must know how to manage ourselves, without betraying ourselves. Knowing when we have to brake, for one reason or another.

Complicated ? It is an interesting way to listen to yourself with all the honesty possible, and to see how our decisions are influenced by many reasons. Reasons which, as we said, can range from a purely animal instinct to something cultural.

The needs satisfaction cycle consists of 7 successive stages:

1. The feeling

It is the perception of imbalance. Thus, our body needs to restore this balance in order to be able to satisfy our organism. Here is an example: when our belly rings because we are hungry or when we simply get a strange sensation that alerts us to pay attention to it.

2. Consciousness

When we become aware of this sensation, we identify our need. If we follow the previous example, we realize that our stomach has given us an alert but we are not too hungry either. “Ah OK, I am informed that I am hungry”. Or another example, we can realize that we feel alone and that we need contact with a loved one …

3. Energization

Once you have identified and become aware of your need, you can move on to the next step. We start moving. My body is filled with this energy that mobilizes to do something important. “Ah, I’m very hungry! So I can go to the kitchen ”. Or, in the previous example, I realize my need for contact with someone else, and now I know who I want to see. This mobilizing energy will help us take the next step.

4. The action

In this step, once we are activated to take action, we put ourselves in the right mood for reality. We are aware of what we need and we will satisfy that need. We decide to call our friend because he is the person with whom we want to speak at this precise moment.

5. Contact

In contact, we can finally satisfy our need. If we were hungry and went to the kitchen to get the food we wanted, this is when we can finally eat. This is also when we reach out to our friend and have that conversation we needed. We are aware that this contact relieves our loneliness for a while.

6 The realization

In this sentence, we take advantage of the contact we have obtained. Here we enjoy and we savor the experience we just had. I finally managed to achieve what my body asked of me and I feel fully satisfied thanks to it. It is a moment of enjoyment, of pleasure to have achieved what we needed. How good it feels to talk to you, my friend!

7. Withdrawal

After this wonderful experience which has nourished us so much, we retire. We need to rest. We say goodbye to our friend, to what gave us so much joy and peace. Ah, how good it is! It is sometimes very complicated to let go of what has done us so good. Separate yourself from what filled this void …

As you can see, in each of the 7 stages, we can find problems and we can stop the cycle without reaching the end. Why ? Because of fears, of anticipation of catastrophes, because we have entrenched beliefs about “how things should be”, because of cultural and ethical issues etc.

The important thing is to be aware of these needs that we all have and often have a link with love (this vital need to establish a relationship with another being, in which we give and we receive tenderness …), with security (the lack of security produces in us sensations of fear, anguish, anxiety …. that we must listen to) and with freedom (the lack of freedom provokes in us anger and the feeling of being attached…).

So, as you can see, meeting our needs is not a whim but helps protect us, especially when it comes to lack of love, security and freedom. So… don’t turn a deaf ear to these sensations! This will allow you to start and complete the entire cycle.