Acceptance
The experience of being received as you are, without requirement to change, perform, or be different. A sense that your existence is welcome.
Needs.FYI
An interconnected catalogue of human needs. Explore the landscape of what makes us human.
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Acknowledgement
The need to have one's presence, efforts, or experiences noticed and affirmed. A basic sense that what you do and who you are registers with others.
Appreciation
The need to have one's contributions, qualities, and efforts recognised and valued by others. A sense that what one does and who one is matters to someone.
Authenticity
The alignment between one's inner experience and outer expression. Living in accordance with one's values, feelings, and truth rather than performing for others.
Autonomy
The experience of having choice and agency over one's own actions, decisions, and life direction. This is not freedom from relationship, but freedom within it.
Balance
The need for a sustainable distribution of time, energy, and attention across different areas of life. A sense of proportion that prevents any one domain from overwhelming others.
Beauty
The need to experience and be surrounded by things that are pleasing to the senses and soul. An appreciation of form, harmony, and grace that nourishes beyond utility.
Belonging
The experience of being accepted as part of a group, community, or relationship. A sense that one has a place and is welcome.
Celebration
The need to mark and honour significant moments, achievements, and transitions. A way of punctuating life that creates meaning and shared joy.
Choice
The experience of having alternatives available. The sense that one is selecting among possibilities rather than being forced down a single path.
Clarity
The need to understand clearly what is happening, what is expected, or what something means. A state of knowing that dispels confusion and enables action.
Collaboration
The need to work jointly with others toward shared goals. A sense of combining efforts and strengths to create something none could achieve alone.
Communication
The need for effective exchange of thoughts, feelings, and information. The capacity to express yourself and receive others' expressions in ways that create understanding.
Community
The need to be part of a group of people with shared values, practices, or circumstances. A sense of collective identity and mutual support beyond individual relationships.
Companionship
The need for the presence of others, sharing time and space without necessarily deep intimacy. The simple comfort of not being alone.
Compassion
The need to experience and express caring in the face of suffering — your own or others'. A quality of heart that responds to pain with gentleness.
Competence
The need to feel capable and effective in what you do. A sense of having the skills and abilities to meet the challenges you face.
Connection
The experience of meaningful contact with another being. A sense that the boundary between self and other has become permeable, that you are in genuine relationship.
Consideration
The need to have others take your needs, feelings, and circumstances into account. A sense that people think about how their actions affect you.
Contribution
The need to offer something of value to others or to the world. A sense that one's existence makes a positive difference beyond oneself.
Cooperation
The need for people to work in concert rather than at cross-purposes. A sense of coordinated effort where actions align rather than conflict.
Creativity
The need to bring something new into being. An urge to express, combine, invent, or transform that gives life a sense of freshness and possibility.
Dignity
The need to be treated as having inherent worth simply by virtue of being human. A baseline of respect that does not need to be earned.
Ease
The need for things to flow without excessive effort or friction. A sense that life doesn't have to be a constant struggle.
Effectiveness
The need to have your actions produce intended results. A sense that what you do actually makes a difference and moves things forward.
Empathy
The experience of having one's inner world accurately sensed and reflected by another. Feeling that someone truly gets what it is like to be you in this moment.
Equality
The need for fair treatment and equal consideration. A sense that the rules and opportunities apply to everyone, and that imbalances are addressed.
Freedom
The experience of being unconstrained: able to move, act, think, and choose without external restriction or coercion.
Fun
The need for lighthearted enjoyment and amusement. Activities and experiences that bring pleasure simply because they're enjoyable.
Growth
The need to develop, expand, and become more of who you can be. A pull toward actualisation, learning, and the unfolding of potential.
Harmony
The need for relationships and environments to be free of discord and conflict. A sense of things fitting together peacefully.
Health
The need for physical and mental wellbeing. A state where the body and mind function well and support engagement with life.
Honesty
The need for truthful communication and authentic representation. A sense that what is said reflects what is true, both from yourself and others.
Hope
The need to believe that good things are possible, that the future holds potential for improvement, and that effort can lead to positive outcomes.
Humour
The need for lightness, laughter, and the ability to see the absurd or amusing in life. A capacity for levity that balances life's seriousness.
Inclusion
The need to be included in activities, decisions, and groups. A sense of being welcomed in rather than shut out.
Integrity
The need to live in accordance with your values and to be undivided within yourself. A state of alignment between what you believe, say, and do.
Interdependence
The need for balanced relationships where giving and receiving flow naturally, and where neither complete independence nor excessive dependence dominates.
Intimacy
The experience of being deeply known and accepted by another. A quality of connection that involves vulnerability, presence, and mutual revelation.
Learning
The need to acquire knowledge, skills, and understanding. An innate curiosity that seeks to comprehend the world and one's place in it.
Love
The need to love and be loved. A deep caring that sees and values another for who they are, and the experience of being so seen and valued.
Meaning
The sense that one's life, actions, and experiences have significance beyond mere survival. A felt coherence that connects the parts of existence into a comprehensible whole.
Mourning
The need to grieve losses fully. A process of honouring what has been lost and allowing the feelings of loss to move through you.
Movement
The need for the body to move, stretch, and express itself physically. A fundamental requirement for health and vitality.
Mutuality
The need for relationships to involve balanced giving and receiving. A sense of fair exchange where both parties contribute and benefit.
Order
The need for things to be organised, predictable, and in their place. A sense of structure that supports functioning and reduces chaos.
Peace
A state of inner stillness and absence of conflict. The experience of harmony within oneself and with one's surroundings.
Play
The need for activities engaged in for their own sake, without instrumental purpose. A spirit of lightness, experimentation, and joy unattached to outcomes.
Privacy
The need for a realm of life that is not observed or intruded upon by others. Space for thoughts, feelings, and activities that are your own.
Purpose
The sense of having a direction or aim that organises one's energy and choices. A felt orientation toward something worth pursuing.
Reassurance
The need to receive comfort and encouragement that things will be okay. Support that soothes anxiety and restores confidence.
Recognition
The need to have your qualities, achievements, or contributions recognised by others. A sense that what makes you distinctive is seen and valued.
Relaxation
The need to release tension and let go of effort. A state of ease where the body and mind can unwind from accumulated stress.
Respect
The need to be treated with consideration and regard for one's inherent worth. Recognition that one matters and deserves fair treatment.
Rest
The need for periods of reduced activity that allow the body and mind to recover, integrate, and renew. A state of non-doing that restores capacity.
Safety
The experience of being free from threat or harm. A baseline sense that one's physical and emotional integrity is not in danger.
Self-care
The need to attend to your own wellbeing with kindness and attention. Taking actions that support your physical, emotional, and mental health.
Self-expression
The experience of manifesting one's inner world outwardly, through words, art, movement, or creation. Making the internal external.
Self-worth
The need to feel valuable and worthy in your own eyes. An internal sense that you matter and have worth, independent of external validation.
Sexual expression
The need to express and experience your sexuality in ways that feel authentic and fulfilling. A fundamental aspect of human experience that seeks expression.
Shared reality
The need to share a common understanding of what is real and true with others. A sense of inhabiting the same world with agreed-upon facts and meanings.
Shelter
The need for physical protection from the environment — a safe place to live, sleep, and take refuge from weather and external threats.
Space
The need for physical, emotional, or temporal room. An absence of crowding or pressure that allows one to think, feel, and be without impingement.
Stimulation
The need for mental and sensory engagement, novelty, and variety. The experience of being alive and alert rather than bored or numb.
Structure
The need for organising frameworks that provide shape and predictability to life. Systems and routines that support functioning.
Support
The need to receive help, encouragement, and assistance from others. The sense that one does not have to face challenges alone.
Sustenance
The need for what sustains and nourishes life — food, water, air, and other physical necessities. The foundation upon which all other needs rest.
To be heard
The experience of expressing oneself and having that expression received with attention and care. The sense that one's words and feelings matter and land somewhere.
To be seen
The experience of being truly perceived by another: not just noticed, but witnessed in one's full humanity, including the parts we might hide.
To matter
The need to feel that you and your life have significance. A sense that you make a difference and that your existence matters to someone or something.
Touch
The need for physical contact with other living beings. A fundamental way of experiencing connection, comfort, and care through the body.
Trust
The sense that one can rely on another person, situation, or oneself. A felt confidence that allows vulnerability and the release of hypervigilance.
Understanding
The need to be genuinely comprehended by others, and to comprehend oneself and the world. A mutual meeting of minds that goes beyond surface communication.
Warmth
The need for gentle, caring, affectionate contact with others. A quality of relating characterised by kindness, softness, and tender regard.
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