A birthday wish can reveal what has become scarce in an otherwise comfortable life.

What a person asks for tends to name their shortage rather than their taste. Someone with a good job and a full house wishing for a day with nothing in it, or for a call from one particular person, is telling you where the scarcity sits. Comfort does not remove wanting, it relocates it to things money handles badly. The wish is a more honest inventory than the house.

Ask someone what they would like and listen for the category rather than the object. And when your own answer surprises you, treat it as information about what your life is currently short of.