The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day

Good Morning,

Each morning as I stumble out of bed and make my way down to the kitchen I am surrounded by three meowing cats wanting their morning canned food and two dogs who want to go outside and take care of their business. It is just like being surrounded by vultures and its a challenge to collect my thoughts amid the whining and constant movements around me after being awake a mere five to ten minutes.

Usually I check their big water bowl, which all of the cats and dogs share to see if there is water in it. If not, or if it is nearly empty, I fill it first as the cacophony of meows and doggy whines continues. Filling the bowl with water is not what any of them want at the moment, but it is something they need. The cats have dry food in the basement, they won’t starve. The dogs usually have been out some time in the middle of the night (another enjoyable time for me….) and can wait another hour or two before they go out, so two minutes is not going to kill them while I fill the water bowl.

It’s an interesting dynamic, to fulfill a need, water, which if they don’t have, will cause a lot more problems than not having food. Yet, the current want is more powerful and more easily heard. The need, completely ignored. That is, until the need becomes a want, and the pets want water.

Isn’t this true in our lives? We have needs and wants, and often our wants drown out our needs. Especially during the Christmas, Hanukah and other holidays, we have dreams of what we want, but often overlook what we need.

We make fusses for what we want, and ignore, if we are even aware of what we truly need.

It makes sense then to look at our lives and at ourselves to see what we need. What are our needs? We may want that 40 or 50 inch LCD internet TV, but we need to have family time. We may want that latest book or CD, but what we need is to balance our budget. We may want tickets to that big game, but what we need is to get on an exercise program for our health.

One of the challenges is that needs are not as sexy or desirable as our wants. Family time is not as flashy as a new big screen TV. But, without family time, the family falters, splinters, crumbles and collapses. We get that latest CD, but when the checks start bouncing and the overdraft fees mount, it may be a long time before we are able to go buy the next hot CD. We may get to go to the game, but as our health gets worse, the ability to go and do things wanes until we become shut ins who can’t go anywhere.

Ok, I admit it this sounds a bit morbid, but it is to prove a point. Needs are more important than wants. They have a greater impact on our lives.

Taking a good look at our needs and making them our wants, now that is a recipe for success. When we fulfill our needs, we strengthen our foundation, our core. This allows us to build ourselves upward with a far less chance of internal problems.

Focus on our Needs, and the wants will can be dealt with when we are able. They will always be there. There will always be another gadget, CD, book, game.

Fulfilling needs strengthens the core, fulfilling wants is fluff.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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