Which stage of the human life cycle is the most important?

Some cultures claim that infancy is the key stage, when a baby’s brainplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigOur Intriguing Brain!

In the 30+ odd years that I have practised as a psychologist, career- and life coach, there is one particular aspect of human behaviour that I found quite mystifying. People does dumb things (myself included), but - rather naivelyphenomenonawesomeidiotic is wide open to new experiences that will influence all the rest of his/her later life. Others might argue that it’s adolescence or young adulthood, when physical health is at its peak. Some say midlife, because of the contribution to society and keeping the economy going, is most important. However, many cultures value late adulthood more than any other, arguing that it is at this stage that the human being has finally acquired the wisdom necessary to guide and mentor others.

Who is right?

The truth of the matter is that every stage of life is equally important, significant and necessary for the welfare, self-development and growth of being human (i.e. a self-actualization LDP). The twelve stages of life Where each stage is accompanied by either a physical, mental or spiritual big-squeeze. each has its own unique “gift” to offer and we need to value each one of these gifts when we are to truly support the deepest needs of our own beingness. The twelve gifts of the human life cycle can be indicated The years indicated in brackets - after each cycle - should only be regarded as a mere indication of course and progression. We all differ from each other and the indicative use of chronological years is merely to sensibly integrate our physical development with becoming mature adults. as follows…

1. Pre-birth: Potential A child who has not yet been born could become anything a Michelangelo, a Shakespeare, a Nelson Mandela, Einstein, Bill Gates, Mother Theresa, …etc. Something that holds true for all people… the human-spring principle of what we all may yet become in our life time.
2. Birth: Hope When a child is born, it instills in his/her parents and other caregivers, a sense of optimism; An awareness that this new life could bring and contribute something new, special or unique to our planet. Hence, the newborn represents the deep seated sense of hope that we all continuously nourish inside of ourselves to make the world a better place than it was before we arrived on this plain.
3. Infancy (± ages 0-3): Vitality The infant is a vibrant and seemingly unlimited source of energy. Babies represent the inner dynamo and spring of humanity, ever fueling the fires of learning, questioning, self-empowerment, development and growth.
4. Early Childhood (± ages 4-6): Playfulness When young children play, they discover and recreate the world anew. They take what is and combine it with the “what might be possible” to co-create events and situations that have never been encountered before in the history of mankind. As such, they embody the principles of innovation, improvisation and transformation that underlies every single creative act that has - and will - occur in the course of human civilization.
5. Middle Childhood (± ages 7-8): Imagination During middle childhood, the sense of an inner subjective or spiritual self develops for the first time, and this self is alive with images taken in from the outer world, and brought up from the depths of the subconscious. This imagination serves as a source of creative inspiration and improvisation in later life for artists, writers, scientists and anyone who finds their days and nights enriched for having nurtured a deep inner life.
6. Puberty (± ages 9-12): Ingenuity Older children have acquired a broad range of social and technical skills that enable them to come up with marvelous strategies and inventive solutions for dealing with the increasing pressures that society and modern technology places on them. This principle of ingenuity, lives on in that part of ourselves that ever seeks new ways to overcome challenges, solve practical problems and efficiently cope with everyday responsibilities, demands and challenges.
7. Adolescence (± ages 13-20): Passion The biological event of puberty unleashes a powerful set of changes in the adolescent body that reflect itself in a teenager’s sexual, emotional, cultural and/or spiritual passions. Adolescence passion - therefore - represents a significant touchstone for anyone who is seeking to reconnect with their deepest inner zeal for life.
8. Youth (± ages 21-35): Enterprise It takes plenty of dedicated initiative for young adults to deal with their many challenges - such as - finding a home and mate, establishing a family, a circle of friends, initiate a career and/or searching for, finding and securing a good job. This principle of enterprise serves us at any stage of life when we need to go out into the world and make our mark.
9. Midlife (± ages 36-50): Contemplation After many years in young adulthood of following society’s scripts for creating a life, individuals in midlife often “take a break” from worldly responsibilities to reflect on the deeper meaning of their lives to acquire new understandings. This element of contemplation represents an important resource that we can all draw upon to deepen and enrich our lives at any age.
10. Mature Adulthood (± ages 51-80): Benevolence Those in mature adulthood have raised families, established themselves in the work place, professional life and become contributors to the betterment of society through volunteerism, mentoring and other forms of altruism and philanthropy. All of humanity benefits from their benevolence. Moreover, we all can learn from their example to give more of ourselves to others.
11. Late Adulthood (± age 81⁺): Wisdom Individuals with long lives - providing that all previous life stages has evolved to fruition - have acquired a rich repository of experiences that they can share and use to help and/or guide others. Elders represent the source of wisdom that exists within in each of us, helping us to avoid the mistakes of the past, while reaping the benefits of life’s many lessons.
12. Death & Dying: Life Those in our lives who are dying - or who have died - teach us about the value of living. They remind us not to take our lives for granted, but to live each moment of life to its fullest, and to remember that our own small - seemingly insignificant - life's form an integral part of a much greater creation whole.

Since each stage of life has its own unique gift to offer to humanity, we need to do whatever we can to fully support each stage, and to protect each stage from attempts to either suppress or derail its individual contribution to the human life cycle. Thus, we need to be wary and cautious - for example - of attempts to thwart a young child’s need to play through the establishment high-pressure formal academic preschools. We should protect the wisdom of the aged from elder abuse and to “remove them from society” and isolate them in “ retirements villagesplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigWhich - in essence - is nothing more than grandeur kennels dealing with and taking care of troublesome animals. ”. We need to do what we can to help our adolescents at risk. We need to advocate for prenatal education and services for parentsplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBoth genders, regardless of age, color, creed or whether they are rich or poor, we all must become and remain aware of HUMAN LIFE! Respecting it for what it is, not for what we think it should be like. we must become acutely aware of, support and nurture the human life cycle, with the same dedication that we chase after the proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”. By supporting each stage of the human life cycle, we will help to ensure that all of its members are given the care and assistance to blossom to their fullest potential.