CHAPTER 1: Achieving One’s Full Potential

  Abraham Maslow frequently asked his psychology students: 

“Who among you will write a great novel, or become a great leader or composer?  He went on to describe how is students reacted.  "Generally everybody starts giggling, blushing, and squirming until I ask:  'If not you, then who else?'  If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life.  You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities.”                               --From his book: The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

Maslow was the first president of the American Psychological Association. At the time his profession was exclusively dedicated to the study of pathological conditions like Huntington's Disease or Alzeheimers.  But if psychologists only looked at what goes wrong in the human brain, how will we come to know of the upper reaches of the human nature?

His new ideas on how to understand the fullness of the human mind grew into a new discipline now known as Humanistic Psychology  His groundbreaking studies looked at self actulization, the motive to realize one's full potential, to become what one is fully capable of becoming.

His name might be familiar:  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Self-actualization, achieving one's full potential, is at he upper reaches of his hierarchy.

Which leads us to the purpose of this web site.  Here we will continue the groundbreaking work of Abraham Maslow by studying and interviewing highly self actualized people, both professionally and personally, throughout the world.  Think of the most wonderful people you know, those accomplished in both realms. Let's take notes about them and their behavior and what these point to in the world of human potential.

To our readers:

"All life is education and everybody is a teacher and everybody is forever a pupil." 
--Abraham Maslow

So now, I hope to continue  that tradition with you.  Though you are reading this little book, learning some of what I have learned, I too hope to learn from you.   Keep in touch.
          --Toby Manzanares

[][][][][] Case Studies.

Let's start with a friend I first met in September of 2015. Though he passed away in 2018, his short time with me illustrates the Farthest Reaches of what we humans are capable. I had to go all the way to Niimi, Okayama Japan to find him, and I'd do it again in a New York heartbeat.

Take a look at the short documentary:  My Friend Yuji.  

Yuji's kindness was the first indication of his self-actualized character, but now that I look back I wonder if that common character I've observed over my 9 trips to Japan... I wonder if self-actualization is what sets the Japanese culture apart from the euro-centric way of living?  I'll continue the study of self-actualization as part of my next trip to Japan.

Let's make a list of people who are living a life of Self-actualization and Peak Experiences, how is it that they are so neurologically unique?

I'm sure you know someone like this, someone who has reached their full potential.  We’d love to include them.  Send your nomination to:    1tobymanzanares@gmail.com

Nominees:

Cathy Manulkin

Greta Pruitt 

Jim Douglas

The Dali Llama

Look for their documentaries coming soon.

Historical Nominees:

Mahatma Ghandi

Mother Theresa

Nelson Mandela