Matt's Hypothesis of Lost Things

When you lose an item and have looked everywhere for it (including the last place you looked) but just can't find it, if you will simply purchase a replacement item you are guaranteed to find the item within the next week.

2 3DS XLs = 6DSXXLs?

Exhibit A: We now have 2 Nintendo 3DS XLs, because Santa brought a game that Nathan wanted with the guarantee that we had the 3DS already. Come Christmas morning, we couldn't find the 3DS anywhere. After looking around for a week, I decided to just buy a new one (used, at a pawn shop). Fast forward to cleaning out the garage 5 days later, I open the only box in the garage that I hadn't opened in the last week and what do I find? Now we have 2 Nintendo 3DS XLs.

Now we can really fight over the volume

Exhibit B: The TV remote had been missing for weeks. We had to use the app on our phones. We looked under everything and in all the chair/couch cracks and cushions. I finally decide to buy a replacement and order one from Amazon. Less than an 4 hours after ordering, I stick my hand down in a chair cushion and come back out with the remote. The previous one had already shipped. So now we have 2 TV remotes. Always good to have a spare.

Matt's Corollary of Lost Things: The more times you invoke MHoLT, the shorter the time between repurchase and finding.* **

*More data is needed to determine the exact shape the the curve.
**Rather than the number of times, it might be related to the cost of the item.
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Lift Up Your Eyes

Most days in the afternoon, I take our 2 dogs, Lulabel and Angel, on a walk around the neighborhood. We usually go 1 ½ - 2 miles. About ½ way through, my right leg usually starts to go crazy. It feels tight in places and sometimes like it’s dangling loose. Sometimes I can adjust my gait or stop and stretch. Sometimes I just push through till it passes.

Lulabel and Angel walking by the creek

Today I noticed that I was staring down at the ground in front of me as I walked and fixated on the pain. I thought maybe I could just ignore it, and maybe if I looked up at the trees and sky, I could take my mind off of it by thinking of bigger things. An odd thing happened. As I lifted my eyes, my head followed, as did my back, rotating my hips, and relieving the pain in my leg. I looked around at the sky and trees and tried to think about bigger things than just each step.

Over the course of the walk, my eyes would drift down to the sidewalk, and I had to consciously raise them again. Each time, as my posture adjusted, I’d feel more at ease. What I had thought might be a mental solution to pushing through the pain by concentrating on the bigger picture, turned out to have a direct physical impact.

Feel free to draw your own life lessons outside of proper posture on a simple walk. But if you’re struggling with pain, it might not hurt to lift up your eyes.