Why do we have a “Bucket List?” As lore tells us, slaughtered animals kicked the bucket below them before they died. The bucket was placed below the doomed animal to catch its blood. What a gruesome image. So, to turn the bucket into a more promising and better vision, we have now come up with the term “bucket list.”
Today, the bucket is symbolic of a dream catcher. Our whims and hopes dropped one by one into a pail we carry around our necks without emptying it. It’s just a drop in the bucket for everything we can think of doing before we die. Instead, the receptacle for all our wishes, longings, and desires is our way of temporizing time and activities.
How weird that we shovel into a bucket our wish lists, things we want to challenge ourselves to, the must-dos, plans, and goals. We hurtle and dump fabulous experiences and life’s precious moments into a red plastic or gray metal vessel, your choice. Before we “kick the bucket,” I say empty it of wants and longing and kick it as far away as possible. I suggest a “Now List.”
Intro To "Now List"
A New Now List is an exercise to do everything you dream of now. Why wait until you’re half dead to do everything you desire? I know the excuses you will conjure up: the money, the time, the strength, and the stamina. The job, the kids, and the pets may prevent you from fulfilling even the simplest of your grails and targets. Why, though, is the question? Why would you often think deeply and with such fortitude about satisfying and worthwhile situations and not follow through with them? What are your excuses? Why don’t you do the things you say you want to do? What is in your way? Whatever your answer is, why not liberate yourself? Either empty the bucket, figure out whether your idle itches will happen and when, or make a List and stop procrastinating. Stop carrying on about all these fantasies. Living with one foot in front of the other, in a dreamy daze of to-do’s, cannot be fun.
Time is Now
Start doing the escapades, climbing the trails of glory, begin your living now list, and put them in your #googlecalendar immediately. Get on with your extraordinary life, spark the magical beams across the universe, # organizeethegarage, think about #buyinganewhome #decoratethekidsroom, #learnanewlanguage, and #traveltoanexoticdestiny. Live bigger than you ever imagined. Live like it is your birthday every day, and enjoy life’s pleasures. You deserve #thebestthingsinlife now. So go ahead, make a list, and make it sensible. #Flyingtothemoon, #buyingamazeratti, and #goingaroundtheworld can be part of the list. Don’t hold back your most outrageous ideas. Then, could you visualize how to make it happen? Seriously, people have been known to come back to life after being pronounced dead. Anything is possible when you have a Now List in front of you. Hey, if you are saying to yourself, that sounds ridiculous, I say, “Nah.” What is absurd is thinking that you’ll get your way in life, carrying around an empty bucket of invisible dreams.
Marla Stone, MSW, Life and Business Consultant
CEO, I-Deal-Lifestyle Inc. www.i-deal-lifestyle.com
