A Reverse Bucket List

No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime you’ll find
You get what you need Rolling Stones, song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”

“If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.” –Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus

It’s not that “we can’t get no satisfaction” as The Rolling Stones said.

It’s that we can’t keep that satisfaction.

Why is this?

Well, one main reason is that we always want more. And we think that by having more, we’ll be satisfied. If we could just cross off that last item off our bucket list, then we’ll finally reach some imaginary, nirvanic state of perfect complacency.

Nope, not happening.

Instead, as Arthur Brooks advises, want less. Make a reverse bucket list. Eliminate items. In doing so you just might find, you have all the satisfaction you need.

And then some.