Life’s not about ‘what’s better than’


credit: Benoît

I was listening to a song by the John Butler Trio this morning – if you’ve never heard of them, they have a great earthy sound that has been described as reggae, blues, rock, tribal and ‘getting back to roots.’  One of the good things about this band is that their lyrics actually make you stop and think about things, instead of the meaningless drivel that makes up much of the top 40 hits!

The song I had playing was called ‘better than’: a song that makes reference to earthly possessions and being happy with what we’ve got.  This is a great reminder for me about what’s important in life, especially because I too have been guilty of falling into the stereotypical “what can I buy next!” mode – not because I’m overly flippant with cash or possessions, but because some things look good when you don’t have them!  It’s not too hard to start to think “yeah, that’d be great to have!”.  

Big screen TV’s, new laptops, music DVD’s, new cars – these are all things that have appeal.  This frame of thinking is also fuelled by constant pushes from all kinds of different sources such as the media, society and our peers.  Better technology, more fuel efficient, higher resolution…  We are constantly fed a message of you need to have something better, faster, stronger!  

Lessons from life

One of the stories that helps put things into perspective for me is that of high profile figure Rene Rivkin – a flamboyant wealthy millionaire stockbroker, who was so unhappy he took his own life.  Rene had amassed a ridiculous accumulation of mansions, cars and antiques, and was considered to be some kind of authority on the stock market – thousands of people subscribed to his weekly ‘Rivkin Report’.  


credit: tomsaint11

While I don’t agree with much of what the man stood for or how he went about business, he was massively successful in what he did (from a money point of view that is, irrespective of being found guilty of insider trading at the end of his career!).  

There are two quotes that Rene made on an interview with Andrew Denton that meant a lot to me, they were made in reference to money and happiness.  If there’s anyone who we can learn from in terms of the value of material possessions and accumulated stuff, it’s from someone who actually has masses of it!  He says:

“money doesn’t buy you happiness, Andrew. That’s for sure.”

“Happiness is better than money… As far as I’m concerned, the successful person on this planet is the happy person, and the unsuccessful person is the…um, is the unhappy person. You know, and it’s as simple as that.”

What a great statement to make. I hope to live my life with this in mind while I don’t have a lot of money, rather than learn it the hard way and hope money will buy you happiness. How often do you hear people talk about how they “just need to win the lottery this weekend!”.

Here’s a snip of the lyrics from Better Than by the John Butler Trio:

All you want is
What you can’t have
And if you just look around man
You see you got magic
So just sit back and relax
Enjoy it while you still have it
Don’t look back on life man and see only tragic

Because you could be better than that
Don’t let it get the better of you
What could be better than now
Life’s not about what’s better than

What about you, do you place high value on material things? Sometimes it’s hard not to, I guess the trick is finding some balance and not being in a place where you’re always wanting more.