Paperclipped

Back with another life perspective rant. But, but hear me out, cuz I think this one’s a goodie. 

Okay, yes, you don’t know me too well (yet, hopefully [need some #s, y’all]) so I’ll just spoiler alert you now and say that one of my fav pastimes on this planet is the accumulation of perspectives. Its like I collect ‘em. The minds of greats, POVs self-made through the connection of neural pathways in my own unique combinations, reflection on common folk talk, weaving it all into the tapestry of my ever-plastic brain. I guess that last point was a bit like the second, but hey, wordplay is brain-flexing funness. 

...So I just had to pause because I was lost in the neural pathway forest again. 

The perspective about which I’ve come to write today is one that came to me post-sauna talk yesterday. Me and this guy I’ve come to know, Paul, 62 years of age, talked about frames of mentality. From that convo, I saw that to focus on what one does not have it is to waste one’s mind. You’re literally thinking about that which does not exist. What can you do with that which does not exist?

'Kay, wait. Gotta caveat for a sec. One could semantic me and say, “But wait, isn’t goal setting for a future not yet realized also focusing on that which one don’t have, since one don’t yet have it?” 

True. But you know what I mean; you’re just trying to smart-ass power-grab me. 

What I mean when I say focusing on what you don’t have is focusing on what you once had but lost it, or miserably focusing on what you don’t think you’ll get ever or ever again. 

Reminded I am of that Simpsons episode of old (and therefore good) where Homer’s hobo brother rose above the thinking of his fellow stinker and thought on what he did have. 

Now I don’t just mean thankfulness, tho I’ve heard plenty a time of the power of that practice. And I’ve tried it myself; the practice redundanced into oblivion for me more than a couple times (and therein lies my ongoing problemo of perspective gathering). Beyond thankfulness is to see what one has and put it to good use. 

If the opposite, focusing on what one has not, is useless, then thinking about what one has, by this logic, is useful. 

You’re literally thinking about what you have that is of use. 

What can you use?

If you were stranded on an island, like the Castaway Hanks guy, and thought only of the life you lost, you’d shrivel and wither. But in thinking of what you have that is of use, you get more and more that is of use. 

Hobo Homer Bro thought of creating a baby translation device. He thought of what he had, which was access to a brother and therefore his brother’s baby, Maggie. 

What do I have, and what can I do or get with what I have?

I ask you now, dear reader, if you’re out there (can you spot the insecurity?) what do you have, and what can you get with that which you possess? 

Reminded I am now of a story about a guy who started with a paperclip that he traded for another item, which he traded for another, and trade and trade he did until a house he got himself. A house. He basically transformed a paperclip into a house and everything else in between which he may or may not have put to use as well. Look 'im up; his name is Kyle MacDonald.

So ya. I’m sure you’ve got more than a fucking paperclip to work with. And if not, then just Hobo Homer Bro it, use the connections you've got, and milk.