What Are Your Needs? Values? Virtues?

## 🌱What Are Your Needs?

The firmament from which our
Values emerge and our Virtues are expressed ...

To deepen our relational capacities, we begin by becoming more familiar with our authentic needs and values. These form the ground beneath us — shaping how we relate to ourselves and to others. When this ground is unclear or unsupported, connection can feel strained or effortful. When it is tended, something more natural and trustworthy can emerge.

We all have needs — physical, emotional, relational, and existential — yet many of us were never taught how to recognize or honor them without guilt, over-explaining, or self-abandonment. Unmet needs often show up indirectly through burnout, withdrawal, stress, or disconnection.

In this gathering, we’ll gently explore:

• What needs are, and how they differ from wants or demands
• How unmet needs shape our inner experience and relationships
• How values help orient us when things feel uncertain
• Why virtues (like patience, honesty, and compassion) are not traits we force, but qualities that naturally emerge when needs are supported and values are lived
• Simple, non-pressured ways of noticing and expressing needs

This is not a space for fixing, debating, or persuading.
It is a space for awareness, self-attunement, and choice.

You’re welcome to participate in whatever way feels most supportive — speaking, listening, reflecting quietly, or simply being present. All ways of showing up are valid.

***

### 🌿 A gentle map of human needs (Maslow)

• Physiological: rest, nourishment, physical comfort
• Safety: predictability, emotional safety, boundaries
• Belonging: connection, affection, being seen
• Esteem: respect, agency, appreciation
• Growth: meaning, creativity, authenticity

🌀 Optional reflection:
What’s one need or value you’re becoming more aware of right now?

***

### 🌙 Closing words

> “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (1903–1908)