Have Or Had? - Grasshopper

Where is your focus? Is it on what you have or what you had? The answer will predict your future.

A Wall Street bigwig who went bust might say, “I had a house in the Hamptons and a 2-seater Mercedes.” Another person in the same set of circumstances may say, “I live in an apartment now and drive a used Yugo.”

 

What you have is a reality. Focusing on what you had is a fantasy. No matter how vivid your memories, you don’t have it now. Keeping your focus there will not take you there but rather drag you down, sometimes into despair.

 

You can certainly strive for what you once had but lamenting about it will only make you sad.

 

Focusing on what you have is gratitude, and gratefulness has a multiplying factor. Focusing on what you had is a happiness subtractor.

 

Here’s one of my favorite song lyrics: “Count your blessings instead of sheep.” I just have to remember that from time to time to keep from pulling the wool over my own eyes.

 

All the best,

John