What are your most important needs in life? Take a moment to consider. Don't think about hopes, dreams or goals, but rather needs, things you cannot do without. Welcome back to savvy psychologist.

I'm your host Dr. Jade Wu, and every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a

sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Today we talk about the classic Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what this theory is all about and how it can help you figure

out what you're missing in life.

Has there ever been a time in your life when all of your needs were met and you wanted for nothing?

Probably not.

It's more likely that you've always felt the need for something beyond what you already have.

Better health, more job security, more time with friends and family, more time for hobbies,

or just a greater sense of fulfillment in life, whatever that means.

When you've come to that conclusion that something's missing in your life, how do you name

what that thing is?

And what needs do you focus on first and how do you figure out that priority?

Dr. Abraham Maslow wondered about this almost 80 years ago and came up with a framework called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

It's an oldie but a goodie.

In this theory, Maslow proposed that we have five categories of needs. And these categories are arranged in hierarchy, meaning you can visualize

the different categories stacked on top of each other like in a pyramid, with the lower levels as prerequisites for the higher levels.

He believed that we progressed through this hierarchy from bottom to top.

Once one level is adequately satisfied, the next level comes into focus and becomes possible.

So what are the five different categories? Let's look briefly at each and as we go along consider whether you feel fulfilled in each of them.

First up on the bottom of the pyramid is physiological needs or also known as basic needs. These are basic

survival needs like water, food, sleep, and the ambient temperature so that we're

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