Understanding my needs

For becoming the best version of You

An important part of self-awareness is understanding your needs. These include self-development, social, emotional, safety,

physical, and spiritual needs. Your task is to spending time reflecting on your needs. Be aware of any blocks you may

experience such as “I am not supposed to have needs” or “my needs are not important”.

First to help you to get present in the moment, do some deep breathing. Choose a time when you won’t be disturbed and you

have some time to complete the exercise. Close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so. If not then perhaps choose to look at a

blank wall or something that does not distract you too much.

Start by breathing in through your nose counting to 4 and then exhaling through your pursed lips counting to 4. Repeat this

sequence 3 times.

Now focus on listening to your internal messages on your needs: reflect on your emotional, social, self-development, safety,

physical and spiritual needs, and write your observations in your below.

Self-development needs

E.g. need to achieve and accomplish, need to learn and understand, need to feel like one can use their full potential.

Think about whether you feel stimulated by your work and hobbies or other activities. Is there something that you would like to

do? Perhaps it is a secret dream but you feel that you haven’t felt ready or even scared of starting to work towards it in the

past. Just focus on your identifying your need, not on beliefs that might limit you. This is about dreaming and having all the

doors open for you.

Then think about if there was one small thing you could take towards getting closer to your dream. Send the message out to the

universe that you have this dream. Write it down here. In goal setting, it is important to write things down, it makes them more

concrete. You may even wish to generate ideas for meeting your self-development needs and set specific goals that you can

start to work towards.

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Physical needs

E.g. good nutrition, physical activity, rest, flexibility, sexual satisfaction

How do you feel in your body?

What is your body telling you about what it needs right now?

How could you help your body to feel more satisfied?

Which 1 small step could you take today towards helping your body feel more satisfied?

Emotional needs:

E.g. need to feel love, need to feel emotionally safe, need to feel valued, need to feel connected, need to feel looked after, need

to feel wanted, need to feel excited

Which need is not being met at the moment?

How does this leave you feeling?

How could you help you to get this need being met?

Who could help you to get your need met?

Spiritual needs:

E.g. need to believe in something bigger, need to belong to a community of people who have similar beliefs

Think about your relationship with spiritual needs and whether there is something that you are unsatisfied with.

If so what could you do about it?

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Social needs:

E.g. having good friendships and feeling of belonging to a community of like-minded people

Assess the state of your friendships: are they equal or does it feel that you give more than you receive?

How are your boundaries in your friendships? (Too permeable and use often feel used, too rigid and you often feel isolated or

perhaps

Are you spending enough quality time with uplifting friends?

How would you improve this area of your life?

Safety needs:

Are you physically in an environment where you feel safe?

Do you feel emotionally safe in your relationships?

Are you able to set boundaries and are they respected by other people?

Who could support me in changing this area of my life?

How could you support yourself?

Can you identify any other needs that are not currently met?

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