The Value of Being Loyal to Yourself

The value of being loyal to ourselves is enormous. To prove that being true to yourself can provide great benefits to your way of thinking and understanding the world, I would like to take a stroll through the precepts of humanistic psychology.

It is very possible that you have heard about humanistic psychology. This movement has been and still is a valid alternative to behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis.

What is humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology which posits that the altered states of the conscience are an exceptional means to reach our full human potential, giving special relevance to the non-verbal experience.

Humanistic psychology is a modern branch that originated in the United States as part of the revolutionary cultural movements of the 1960s. It has ultimately established itself as a valid psychological approach for different social and artistic fields.

To validate the approaches of humanistic psychology, its supporters rely on the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the celebrated French philosopher. Rousseau describes human beings as noble savages who have developed productive, kind, happy and good sensibilities. That is, as long as adverse experiences or society itself don’t corrupt their nature.

Being loyal to ourselves according to humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology proposes the following characteristics of humans:

• The human being should be global. Within every human being converge feelings, conducts, actions and thoughts into one whole.
• Human behavior is intentional, as viewed from a personal perspective, in which freedom and dignity participate in a relevant manner.
• The personal existence of every being should pass through an interpersonal context, within which every being develops. Yet, always minding their individuality in social relationships with their peers.
• The human being is an autonomous person. Each individual has the ability to make their own decisions, which in turn orient their development in the direction they so choose.
• Someone who is autonomous has the ability to assume their own responsibilities within social and interpersonal relationships.
• The inherent and natural tendency of human beings is self-realization. Due to this, individuality and personal growth are produced.
• Every internal experience of every human being is personal and has a meaning within itself. These experiences are the fundamental axis on which they develop a network of perceptions that each person has about themselves.