Maslow needed to come to terms with the fact that creativity was not limited to real-world products and works of art. Unconsciously he had also assumed that creativity was to be found only in certain professions. The people Maslow studied and treated were to break up these misconceptions and assist him in forming a new idea of creativity.
Sunday Letters
Welcome to the Sunday Letters archive. Here you'll find all editions of the newsletter from 2015. Sunday Letters is a conversation I'm having with myself. It attempts to address the psychology and philosophy of living the good life. It is the pursuit of an answer to a question. Thanks for being here.
Is It Any of My Business?
Frederick Herzberg in his 1959 book The Motivation to Work, gave an account of an address made by management guru Peter Drucker to The American Psychological Association in the 1950s. Drucker apparently suggested that an investigation of workers’ job attitudes was immoral and unjustified. He believed that it was nobody’s business but the worker themselves, how they felt about their job.
7 Life Lessons From The Diary of a Stoic Philosopher
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have penned Meditations during his time amongst the Quadi people on the banks of the River Danube. Their lands bordered the Roman Empire and Bohemia. Scholars consider his philosophical reflections historically and culturally significant even today, over 1800 years after they were written. Aurelius was born in Rome […]
Georgia O’Keeffe on Daily Work, Happiness & Success
I once believed that there was someone out there with the answers — somebody somewhere who knew what I didn’t. All I needed to do to find them and extract their knowledge was to be persistent. Whatever the magic ingredient, I didn’t have it. Instead, it was out there, and I was going to find it. I didn’t find it.
Maslow’s 16 Aspects of Peak Experience
Abraham H. Maslow, in his seminal paper A Theory of Human Motivation, said that man [human beings] is a perpetually wanting animal. There seems to be no denying this, and, in fact, it seems to be a fundamental basis for the growth of the species. In this mode of wanting, in our desire for more, to fill a psychological void, there is the prospect of achieving peak experience. Peak Experience is the seemingly seldom reached place where we may say that we have made it, if even for only a short period.
The Illusion of Free Will
Is free will an illusion? Do we have free will to choose our future life experience, or are our lives predetermined in some way? We seem to have the free will to perform trivial tasks like cross the street or not, to buy a coffee here or over there, to pay for our ticket now or wait for a better deal. But, when it comes to significant life events, perhaps it’s not so cut and dry. Despite our best intentions, stuff happens. So, are we fooled by the illusion of free will?
Why Do We Work Jobs We Hate?
Why do we work? What is the purpose of work apart from providing us with money to buy stuff we don’t need and pay bills? Is it possible to be happy and fulfilled in our daily work or are we destined to despise, yet endure its demands on our lives? Sure, we need money in our pockets to function within the societal system, but most of us it seems, are dissatisfied and disengaged