Why are our wants rarely aligned with our needs?

Speak for yourself. My wants are my needs.

What are your wants?

So much for promises

actually, I didn't realize you started this thread.

I thought this was heart, I looked real quick at the avitar, and hearts new one is like your new one.

I don't want money, so I am not corrupt. Just peace and love and all that jazz.

The language of needs emanates from within the person while the language of wants is
more descriptive of the environment and a menue of things we can want and of who or what we can get them from. All persons have a need to achieve some of their wants, the Need for Achievement...

I think it's normal one to want more than one actually needs. The question is, what lengths one is willing to go to for securing those wants. That's where insecurity and greed come in.

My wants are usually pipe dreams......that's probably why I enjoy watching HGTV so much!

We just got HGTV in HDTV about a month ago.

Excessive need fulfillment is one thing. But I'm also concerned about things we don't need at all. I'm sitting here watching the Superbowl eating thin crust pizza on my 47" TV. None of which I need.

May I edit your question, Bill?

Why do we so often want more than what we need?

I think that most of us actually do want to eat, sleep, poop, copulate, and stay warm.

Somewhat accurate.

I'm a little more cerebral than most people I know. With the exception of staying warm, I usually put off all of my bodily needs until my body starts to seriously protest. Not that I don't enjoy fulfilling my bodily needs, but I'm not sure I would ever miss them if I didn't physically need them, as difficult as that is to imagine. With the exception of sex, I could probably name 100 things more enjoyable then most bodily needs fulfillment activity. And as for eating, when we eat junk like the pizza I just had for dinner, I really don't consider that fulfilling a bodily need.

Perhaps a better solution is to be happy and thankful to have what you have. People will always have more; people will always have less. It doesn't matter. If you are happy with what you have, you are happy.

Period.

It's difficult for me to be happy with what I have if I think what I have might be either excessive or insufficient. That's why I raise the question of wants vs needs. I want a lot of things. I need very little things.

my wants are not in my control only meeting my own needs. I want my children to live happy lives, I want my siblings to outlive me and I want a million dollars to give away. My biggest want is every child born feels loved and has emotional and physical nourishment..

Cost - nothing.

The distinction between Needs and wants is usefull for the process of Values clarification and goal setting and generally for maintaining one's Intrapersonal Relations suficciently for underpening our Interpersonal Relations. The distinction between needs and wants, however, is not absolute...

underpinning-supporting structure-prop

I do not see interpersonal Relations needing props or support.

Graham being less than evil for once...





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0jyKabLHVc


I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

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 sometimes you might find
You get what you need

Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh...

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me now...

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 sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him

You can't always get what you want, no!
You can't always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can't always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!

You get what you need--yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!

I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

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 sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

You can't always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes...

"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
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need"
mjagger

I agree!

Many of our "wants" are culturally determined and have to do with what we see. For instance, we see what someone else has, and though we don't really need it, we want it.

Wants though are not all "bad". In fact because we experience desires we strive, and striving to reach what is just out of our grasp stretches us. If we learn to achieve our wants in a way that at least doesn't hurt anyone else (or ourselves) we can sometimes do great good and even become wise.

Just my opinion.

You need to maintain your customary level of Stimulation/activation and nothing seems to be challenging your need for Identity or for Security to arrouse a response potential that migh stimulate
you, so you are entertaining yourself...

And also have a great time which is meaningfull and pleasurable...

I just read a great novel which demonstrated this theme. "World Without End" by Ken Follett

It takes place in the early fourteeth century in England and follows the lives of a group of kids who together were witness to a secret they swore to always keep. As they grow up they follow their own dreams.

I enjoyed it and recommend it.

One reason I quit watching TV.

Viewers are INUNDATED WITH COMMERCIALS, mostly for stuff we really should not have (like SUVs and Super-sized McWhoppers).

Just my opinion.

I don't watch much live TV for that reason. But I still watch recorded programs in order to skip commercials. I watch C-SPAN which has no commercials. And when I do watch live TV, I'm usually multi-tasking so I have something else to do during the commercials.

The problem is that you can't escape advertising. I have a friend who owned a PR agency. PR advertisements are to commercials and billboards, what submarines are to surface ships, or special forces are to the conventional infantry. This friend told me that 90% of what you read in news articles are paid PR advertising spots.