Your basic needs are met.

You have money in the bank.

You feel a sense of safety and stability in your life.

You cherish your loved ones who adore you back.

You are rewarded for your accomplishments both personally and professionally.

You are good.

You’ve ticked off the first four levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - physiological, safety, love & belonging, esteem.

But then what?

What else is there?

While the journey to this point has involved your relationship to the outer world - your relationships, your career, your home, your money - the last leg of the trip up Maslow's hierarchy of needs to Self-Actualization is in large part about your relationship to your inner world.

That’s when it gets a bit daunting.

When people climb Everest, climbers are guided by Sherpas who are expert mountaineers to provide support on the trek to the summit.

But on this particular journey up the mountain of Self-Actualization, there are no Sherpas.

Nope.

Nada.

Just you.

Because no one can take the journey into you but you.

It’s the only journey we have to do alone.

Having said that, the trek inward is the most rewarding one you’ll ever take.

What I've discovered from my journey inward…

...the outer world can never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever (is that enough ever's?) give you the visceral happiness you receive from your inner life.

Never.

It's not even a comparison.

When focusing inwards becomes a priority, things change.

You begin to engage with your outer world, already happy and full, no longer needing it to feed you.

And that is when the magic starts to happen.

You start to give back to your outer life in a way that feels like a natural extension of you.

You find your purpose.

It's not hard work.

There's a feeling of flow.

That's when the depth of your happiness, love, joy and sense of fulfillment reveal itself to you.

In fact, the depth is bottomless...there are no limits to that depth.

Consequently, your outer world changes.

You start saying yes to a life that just keeps getting better.

You may have been living in fear but now that is overshadowed by the gratitude for simply being alive.

Self-Actualization is not static.

It's not a destination.

There's no peak…it’s an infinite mountain of amazingness, greatness and aliveness.

It's a way of life that makes you giddy.

It’s clear on what truly matters to you moment to moment to moment.

So that at the end of your human life, you can say with certainty that you've experienced the thousands of moments that make up...

...a life worth lived.