Before I die… A bucket list for the Future… of Mankind
How to create a G.R.E.A.T. bucket list for y’our future.
This conversation was inspired after listening to the radio show (B) De Wereld van Sophie where author Joost de Vries (NL) tells about the absurdity of a bucket list. While I get what Joost said, that many bucket lists are only for personal benefits, I see how we can create meaningful bucket lists that serve a higher purpose and the future of humanity.
Creating a meaningful bucket list, a list where aspiration meets inspiration and leaves a legacy for the good of mankind. A bucket list not just for personal benefits, which are secondary.
It is so strange to see people spend so much money on bucket lists. To have something on the list so they can talk about it. But at the end of the day, is it going to change the world?
We need to think further than our personal needs, for a moment, for a time. Align at least our private bucket list to the bucket list of mankind, humanity. Otherwise, what will be left? You will have that beautiful experience, but what does it mean? It doesn’t mean anything in the long term of things.
Unless we change that, unless we change our point of view. Change in aligning to our future, the future we want to see in the world. We have to stop from this ego-centred living to human-centred living, to a global living one that doesn’t just make us feel good for a moment but makes us feel good for all the days we have left.
What is luck? What does it mean to be lucky?
Luck is something very ephemeral, a fleeting moment in time. Often we recognise we were lucky when the moment is already over. Because we haven’t really defined what luck means beforehand, we don’t always recognise it.
If we define what luck means for us, when we define what contentment, happiness, and fulfillment means — which are all aspects of a sense of luck, a sense of accomplishment, meaning, purpose — when we define that, we can also work towards it. Work towards achieving that luck and actually accomplish and experience it when it happens.
Experience it even before it happens because when you have set a goal, and you think about that goal — for example, when you think about the holiday you planned, when you think about the time between now and the day you go on holiday — how does that make you feel?
You think about it with anticipation (and brings a smile to your face), and a how does that anticipation make you feel? You could also say — for those who are planning a holiday — am I not lucky that I can actually go on holidays, while so many people can’t? While so many people don’t have that opportunity.
A sense of luck you can create by giving y’our life a sense of direction. And that is what “Futurize Yourself” is all about. And the futures effect that I often talk about are the benefits you get when you have set that intemporal goal that transcends y’our time, that transcends y’our imagination, but that you can envision.
But it may not be a utopia. It has to be concrete and actionable. It has to be something that you actually can achieve. And although you/we are always dependent on others. It does not mean waiting for others because then nothing happens at all. We all have to start at different levels. But start we must.
That’s what it’s all about. It’s about taking on that personal responsibility. It’s about stepping in the shoes of what a good future needs, what we as humans really and truly can be. We are full of automatisms, but we also have a mind and a free will that can say: “I will do this. I can do this, and I will do it.”
Because hope is life. Hope gives meaning. Hope gives so much.
We have to make a list in our heart, in our mind and in our soul. A list, shared body, mind, social, and spirit (biopsychosocial and spiritual) — the ideal bucket list.
You may ask, what about you, Tom. What are you doing about it? Is your bucket list not to be an osteopath for space tourists. Yes, that is what I want to be. But remember why I want to be that. Why I think I am the ideal person to do that. Because through it, I want to help to create a mind shift. The mind shift that can be experienced or attained by looking unto the earth from its cosmic perspective.
I want to contribute to that experience, so it doesn’t get lost in the hands of stress when back on Earth. The stress response can become overwhelmed by the very demanding experience of going into space. And if stress takes over when back, it would be such a waste of time and money (an overwhelmed stress response leads to health problems and behavioural changes like anxiety and anti-social behaviour).
Somebodies item on the bucket list might be crossed off saying I went to space. Sure, but that experience can be so much more than just an accomplished item on the bucket list.
Coming back, that mind shift (created by the overview effect) that will be experienced, experienced by people that can afford this trip into space — these are business people, entrepreneurs, people with money — can change our behaviour very quickly. They can help us change our behaviour quickly if they set their minds to it.
Imagine that they follow up on this extraordinary experience. In that case, we all will benefit from this feeling of connection with the Earth from up there and the sense that we are all one. They can open the minds of many by making us see the economic and ecological disasters in the making if we don’t change our behaviour.
These influential people can make a difference fast by implementing change in their behaviour, personal and business values!
So, I want to contribute to that. I want to be an osteopath for space tourists to make sure they have an optimal experience pre and post journey in body, mind and spirit. Because on my bucket list for the future of mankind is is having and creating G.R.E.A.T. futures for all. I want that we all live a Good future. I want that we all are Resilient in that good future. I want that we all Evolve in the future. I want that future to be Actionable, not a utopian dream but something that can be concretely done, put into action and enjoyed while being in action. And I want it to be Transcendent. Surpass my limiting beliefs because then I know I will have achieved something on a personal level that transcends me, my generation, and makes a difference for the generations to come, which I also wish to have great futures.
This is on my bucket list.
What’s on yours?
Be good to you, and y’our future, always.
Tom
