Needs vs. Wants

Action to take

When thinking and speaking, be accurate
about what you need vs. what you want.

Why

My wife asked if there was anything I needed from the grocery store
and I said some beer. Then I thought, I don’t need beer, I want beer.
The distinction is subtle, but offers several benefits. Saying I want
rather than need:
~ makes me more consciousness that this isn’t something my body needs
~ prompts me to consider whether I am making a healthy choice
~ prompts me to be more likely to make a healthy choice
~ raises my consciousness as to physiological effects
~ prompts gratitude as I realize I have many choices
~ prompts gratitude as I realize I can choose many things beyond my needs
That’s a lot of benefits from just being more conscious of one word choice.
Why fuss about semantics? Painlessly making healthier lifestyle choices fosters
living longer, healthier and living with purpose. So does having more gratitude.
I’m always looking for easy ways to foster growing young and living with purpose.
The distinction can have a lot of nuances. I may want a beer to help me relax
and unwind. If the outcome I want is to relax and unwind, being clear that it is
a want and not a need makes me more aware that I have several choices
for how to relax and unwind.

Sometimes wants are complicated by physiological needs. Wanting coffee
in the morning might be to prevent a headache from caffeine withdrawal
and to counter the lack of sleep from coffee the night before.
Physiological need distinctions can be controversial and confusing.
Research indicates that caffeine stimulates estrogen (estradiol) production.
This can increase the risk of cancer, especially for women at risk for
endometriosis and breast cancers. Some research suggests that pregnant
women metabolize caffeine at only a fourth of their normal rate.
The livers of fetuses cannot metabolize caffeine so the caffeine stays
in their systems for days.

Some research indicates caffeine increases menstrual muscle cramps.
Many women, however, report it relieves cramps and is calming
(partially from its diuretic effect). Then there is research indicating
that coffee has health benefits. What to make of the contradictions?
We need to pay attention to how caffeine affects us (and possibly
experiment with reducing or eliminating consumption to see the difference).
At the very least, moderation is needed, and extra moderation is
needed during pregnancy and breast feeding.

I have just been addressing what we eat and drink. Whether we need or just
want a new car and whether it is a Saturn or a luxury car has its nuances as well.

Quotes

Daddy, I don’t need your help.
I’ve been very intelligent since I was two years old.
~Sharon Brickey (last year when she was 4)

The road to success is a toll road. Pay that small, daily fee,
and you’ll be able to go most anywhere you want.
Leave some time for fun, and you’ll enjoy the ride.
~Steve Goodier (writer)

A rich person is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.
~(source unknown)

Humor

If we are to believe the HBO series, Big Love,
a man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.
~Michael Brickey

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.

2-Minute Aging Antidote

Action to take

Journal the lesson you learn each day.

Why

At lunch today a fellow professional speaker, Marie Pollack,
talked about how she developed a habit of journaling what
she learned each day. I asked myself why I had never thought of this.

Because of Marie’s example, I started a daily lesson journal.
I haven’t kept a diary or journal as I imagined it would
just log mundane events. However, the two minutes it takes
to log the day’s lesson is a great antidote to aging.
It prods you to look for the good and for the lesson.

Learning something new each day is a great way to stay young.
Learning a lesson every day is even better. If you learn more than
300 lessons a year, you are destined to be a very wise person.
Will they all be keepers? If only ten percent seem profound
next year, you still have about three dozen a year.

How does one become a family patriarch or matriarch?
Learning hundreds of lessons a year makes you a natural.
Want to pass on a legacy to children, grandchildren, or others?
How many people learn several hundred lessons each year?

An insight is usually but a fleeting idea unless it is captured on paper.
What could be a simpler way to stay young, positive, and see the
big picture than logging a lesson a day? Writing is one of the best
antidotes to aging I know.

Quotes

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first,
the lesson afterward.
~How to be a Winner, This Week, 14 August 1940

The diary is an art form just as much as the novel or the play.
The diary simply requires a greater canvas.
~Henry Miller

The biggest lesson I have ever learned is the stupendous importance
of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are,
for your thoughts make you what you are; by changing our thoughts,
we can change our lives.
~Dale Carnegie

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Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey is keynote speaker and author of the Oprah-featured book, Defy Aging and 52 baby steps to Grow Young. The books and his Reverse Aging anti-aging hypnosis CDs comprise his anti-aging system.