On wanting more
Mick Jagger once swayed in his swagger the following words, ‘I can’t get no satisfaction.’
I’ve been wondering what the difference is between being gratified and satisfied. Instead of doing a basic google search, and conjoin once again with our collective internet consciousness, I wanted to figure this one out for myself. To risk being wrong.
What does it feel like to be satisfied? It’s a state I hope to reach through consumption. It implies a certain standard that is set by one’s expectations. It’s something we hope a supervisor or someone else that we are trying to please will feel about our efforts.
What does it feel like to be gratified? I hoped that the root word of ‘gratitude’ would have a larger part to play in this sensation. However, my immediate association with the word brings up instant-gratification; something that is pleasurable and ultimately self-serving.
At this stage of writing, I ran out of original thoughts and coffee. Cue the existential and demonic inner critic reminding me that the fact that I was running out of things to say gave every indication that I was boring my readers to tears. God I hate goblins.
But I stuck it out, because I came here to find something. Perhaps I thought that in searching for the difference between these sensations, that I’d find out why I am chasing them. At a deeper level, I suppose I was looking to discover why I chase certain things and run from other things. So much of getting congruent is assessing priorities.
Turns out that to be satisfied is about satiating a need and getting ‘enough’ of what you’re after. To be gratified is like that, only more pleasing. What’s the takeaway from this? It depends on what gives you these sensations in your daily life. Once you’ve clarified that, you’ll know more about your standards and thus your limitations. When you get clear on what you want, you can look deeper and find out what you need.
It wouldn’t surprise me that if you’re reading this, the things you want are not lining up with what you need. And that is an important thing to be aware of. Awareness is the seed of all change. Fill out the form in the ‘On Your Mark, Get Set…’ tab if you want to do something about that. It’s free, and designed to help you clarify at least one thing that you can be working towards that can be gratifying, satisfying, and maybe… just maybe, deeply meaningful.
