What do we need to thrive?

There certain things that are necessary for the survival of humans. We all know, instinctively, that we must have our basic needs to "survive." Food, water, shelter, etc., but I propose that there are other "needs" that we crave and desire so much so that they may be considered necessary, not to our survival, but to make us thrive.

I believe to thrive we must be able to find happiness...yes, happiness. The emotion that releases serotonin and dopamine and make us "feel good." To be productive members of society we must be able to find sort of contentment in our lives. This theory goes back to modern studies that show the productivity of workers improves significantly if they are dealing with less stress, are in good overall health, and have a generally positive outlook...that should be common sense, right??

We must be loved. I take this example from something that I experienced personally. I call it "orphan syndrome." I used to work with an infant, about 7 months old that had a very painful heart condition that caused her to have to undergo five heart surgeries before she was 7 months of age. She did not cry as much as most babies her age, because usually [at home] her cries were not responded to. I thought this was very strange, especially after one day she returned after surgery and had sutures from the top of her sternum to her navel. It looked very painful and I tried to be very careful with her, but she never cried. She had been conditioned to believe that there no one would respond to her cries anyway, so why waste the energy. Sadly enough she didn't smile either. Then, one day while feeding her a bottle, I noticed something. She took just under an hour to drink 6-7 ounces of formula. I figured out then just how strong the instinct of a child is. She was not having a problem swallowing the milk, but rather she was intentionally drinking very slowly, because I would hold her tiny body (10 lbs.)close to my chest and looking her directly in the eye. It was after a few weeks of these feeding sessions that I experienced her first smile, and I smiled back. After that she started to improve and hit developmental milestones, that had been delayed for so long...all of this because she could feel love. I have not yet decided, though, if love that is not love for someone in your family is always a co-dependent type of love...

I also believe to thrive that we need to believe that there is some larger purpose to serve in the world other than ourselves. In saying this, do not misunderstand, I do not mean, specifically, God, or a god, or even a higher spiritual power. This can mean one believes strongly in their vocation...education, social work, medicine, science, for example.

All the above being stated, sure, we all need other, more individual aspects in our lives to thrive and succeed, but these three I believe to be universal.