Everybody has wants and needs. These range from our basic biological needs to more complex psychological needs like having emotional support from other people, feeling good about what we do, and generally feeling like we have agency in our lives.

Many people find it challenging to have an authentic sense of their own needs. Others can identify them, but feel shame or fear that inhibits them from expressing their needs to others, or taking the practical steps to accomplish them.

People who can identify their needs are more likely to get them met, and on today’s episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick Hanson and I focus on how to do just that. We discuss different frameworks for categorizing our needs, what to do when we are confused by our desires, and how to create a personal manifesto to best identify what we want and need.

Key Topics:
0:00: Introduction
1:55 Common features among people who struggle to name their desires
7:05 Three basic steps to relate to wants and needs
8:00 Different frameworks for categorizing wants and needs
21:45 What helped Rick get in touch with his own wants and needs?
27:50 An experiential exercise
35:25 Why addressing your needs and wants is not just naval gazing
39:00 Forrest’s suggestions based on his own experience
46:05 What to do when what we want is probably not best for us
52:35 Creating a personal manifesto
55:45 Recap

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Who Am I: I'm Forrest, the coauthor of Resilient (https://amzn.to/3iXLerD) and host of the Being Well Podcast (https://apple.co/38ufGG0). I'm making videos focused on simplifying psychology, mental health, and personal growth.

You can follow me here:
https://apple.co/38ufGG0
https://www.forresthanson.com
  / f.hanson