© ENKNEAUXN® · a developing framework
THE (SSCSS)
PERSPECTIVE PYRAMID
Survival · Security · Connection · Status · Self Actualisation
For when: through our struggles we know we have privileges, so how do we maintain gratitude and growth?
The (SSCSS) Perspective Pyramid is a framework created to help you navigate shame and life’s challenges while staying true to yourself, guiding you from survival mode toward ongoing self actualisation, or at least manageable stability and active progression.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was a helpful foundation to build on. Taking a metamodern approach, it acknowledges complex modernity and centres intersectionality, globalisation and uncertainty. Some of us are trying to self actualise while still in survival mode. Some of us are seen and respected in one room, and underestimated or disrespected in another.
It is also rooted in Viktor Frankl’s work: the optimism to believe things can get better, and the tragedy of being honest about where your life really is in its different places. Held this way, gratitude stays an antidote to it being mistaken for toxic positivity.
The practice
How to use it
Appreciate
What you have access to, no matter what it is.
Be honest
About what needs your attention.
Communicate
Honestly and in time, for and with the right support.
Direct
Your energy to the biggest or unstable areas first.
Ways to use it
Use the Pyramid
Read it for yourself or a project, see how parts of who you are overlap, or use one level to lift another. Switch between them below.
Tap the level taking up the most space for you right now. It grows to match, the rest steps back, and you can look for a way through what is loudest.
An honest note
The goal is not to reach a constant state of self actualisation. It is to keep striving toward it. The triangle points up because it is all progression, not a ladder to climb in order. No level has to be perfect before you move. Start with whatever is taking up the most space, then use that level, or another, to lift the rest. Everything you do inside the shape counts, even when parts are unstable or not yet in the right place.
For yourself
Not sure where to start? Try the Starter Support System.
Support and safeguarding
This is a reflection tool, not therapy or crisis support. If you are struggling or feel at risk, please reach out for support. Samaritans offer free emotional support at any time on 116 123. For an adult safeguarding concern, you can contact your local council’s adult social care team, and in an emergency call 999.
You do not always meet a struggling level head on. Sometimes a level you are strong in is the way in. Pick what feels heaviest right now, then where you feel strongest, and see how one can lift the other.
What feels heaviest right now?
Where do you feel strongest?
Pick a factor and see how it shows up at every level, not only one. Then stack two or three to see how layered it gets when you carry more than one at once.
Tap to add or remove. Stack a few to see how they overlap.
Accent
A developing framework, already in use
Current applications
Still developing, and already being integrated across different contexts.
Self reflection
Where it launched, as educational content for using on your own life.
Starter Support System
Built in as a filter that matches support to the level you are on, at enkneauxn.com/startersupportsystem.
Practitioner sessions
Used in sessions with practitioners, as a lens for reflection and accountability.
An intersectional teaching tool
Used with a blank pyramid and notes at the side to show how one factor can sit across several levels at once. For example, how an accent can shape both social connections and work opportunities, so one issue rarely stays in a single layer.
What’s next
Get involved
For yourself
An introduction session
A guided one to one, practitioner-led session to see how you could use it for your wellbeing.
Request a sessionFor a group
Recreational reflection workshops
Guided group reflection for recreational and community groups, exploring a new way to navigate things together.
EnquireAfter using it
Feedback and contributions
Used it on yourself, with someone, or for your work? Tell ENKNEAUXN how you found it, or help shape where it goes next.
Get in touchWork with ENKNEAUXN
Build practical reflection into how your team or business works, so you can holistically reflect on risk assessment and action plans. A holistic way to manage business and professional plans, or to explore a new way for your team to navigate what is in front of them.
Book a discovery call The (SSCSS) Perspective Pyramid and its interactive form are © ENKNEAUXN®.