My Pyramid

I had my first full week of class this week and I can say I'm again looking forward to the semester.  Courses on tap for this Spring are: Cultural Policy and Arts Organizations, Economics and Decision Making, Marketing and Communication, Technology and the Arts, and Urban Development/Economics/Visual Arts.  I've got a few of the same teachers, so I'm excited about that - except my Monday/Tuesday consists of 4 classes back-to-back, so that's a solid 7 hours of class those two days.  Then Wednesday/Thursday I've only got one course and it's 8:30AM - 10, talk about not being favored by the scheduling gods.  Oh well, that means there's ample time for post-lunch napping.  This should be a great semester with lots of opportunity for learning and mastering new concepts.

oh yeah, and opportunity for trying new dishes.

Already I've had the chance to relate some academic material to my life.  My professor and I were discussing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to introduce Marketing concepts - it's something we've studied in Project Management, but worth revisiting for the sake of this course.  The bottom of the pyramid represents basic needs: food, shelter, social interaction, etc and the top is a need for which we constantly strive: self actualization.  She described this to me in terms of the art world, why collectors seek new works - often for self esteem or respect from others, but in some cases the desire to obtain artworks is part of what makes up the apex of Maslow's pyramid.  Self Actualization: to realize one's full potential; man's ability to actualize himself, to become his potentialities.  Interesting.

www.psychology.wikia.com

She continued with the lesson, saying that point is a rare occurrence for a person, one in which nothing else is needed to satisfy his/her wants or needs.  I immediately piped up saying, well that's exactly what I feel at this point in my life.  I explained to her a recent situation in which I'd responded to a query about what I'd like for Christmas - well, nothing.  I couldn't imagine anything I wanted or needed to make me more happy or more complete than I already felt, and that must be self-actualization.  The point when nothing else is necessary to finish construction on my psychological pyramid.  She seemed amazed and impressed I was currently residing at the top of said pyramid and immediately told me to relish in that feeling and enjoy it to the fullest while it lasted because though it seems everlasting, it will soon be a fleeting memory.

which is why i should eat as much lasagna as possible, right?

Although these posts must seem repetitious in nature and often I admittedly deserve to be labeled a braggart, my hope is that I can enjoy this time as much humanly possible and one day (when  I'm hanging out at the lower levels of my pyramid, aching for better days) I can look back and relive some of these moments.  I am equally thankful for my ability to share these experiences with people most important to me so they may too feel like 6,000 miles isn't as awfully distant as it seems.