{"id":1612,"date":"2013-09-25T19:03:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T00:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=1612"},"modified":"2013-09-25T13:52:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T18:52:22","slug":"reasons-we-lose-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/reasons-we-lose-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons We Lose Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The list of possible causes for misplacing things might be endless.\u00a0 As with life, there are many variables and complicating factors.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably not as simple as \u201chere it is, the sole cause for why I can\u2019t find my things\u201d and rather a combination of different reasons.\u00a0 Therefore, considering the common causes can help us identify our own triggers, which is the first step toward limiting how much we lose things.\u00a0 Here I\u2019m talking about emotions \u2013 their tremendous impact in both organizing and locating our things.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When we\u2019re distracted, tired\/exhausted, angry, hurried\/impatient we are exponentially more likely to forget where we put things.\u00a0 We\u2019re also not being thoughtful about what we are actually doing.\u00a0 This is not a good time to make decisions about how to set things up for future use \u2013 wait until you can focus on the process.\n<ul>\n<li>I\u2019m a big fan of being mindful, being in the moment as much as you can.\u00a0 And if we could will ourselves to be in that state all the time we could eliminate this as a challenge.\u00a0 Yet we all know that it\u2019s not that simple.<\/li>\n<li>Sometimes we can catch ourselves and control the distraction or whatever \u2013 \u201cnow is the time to focus on this.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Other times it means recognizing that you are not in the best mindset for dealing with your stuff \u2013 do it later when you can be mindful. \u00a0If there is some urgent need to get things elsewhere, get like items grouped roughly together and find a place you can get them out of your way \u2013 rather than attempt to actually organize anything.<\/li>\n<li>There are times when you need to take a few seconds to get things into their home; if you frequently misplace necessary things like your keys, cell phone, wallet\/checkbook, etc. \u2013 take the seconds it will take to make sure you put them into their home \u2013 however frustrated or impatient you might feel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Likewise, when we\u2019re in the middle of strong emotions like any of the above \u2013 it becomes extraordinarily easy to become blind to that thing we are looking for.\u00a0 This is turn can exacerbate our feelings \u2013 the frustration of panicked searching \u2013 the idea that we\u2019ve lost something again and then when we found it and it was \u201cright there all along\u201d (if it was). \u00a0For some people, the mere suggestion something has been misplaced will send them into this state of stress.\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0We can become frazzled when we can\u2019t find that thing we need \u2013 whether it\u2019s our keys and we need to leave the house or if it\u2019s some paper we need in the next week.\u00a0 This state \u2013 the adrenaline pulsing means we\u2019re reacting emotionally rather than logically \u2013 and therefore our ability think clearly is compromised.\u00a0 No wonder it\u2019s harder when we feel stressed about losing the thing to then find it.<\/li>\n<li>If you can recognize when your mind is racing, practicing stepping back \u2013 find a way to relax and calm your mind.\u00a0 This is easy to say and can be excruciating to try to apply!<\/li>\n<li>When you become aware of how your emotions are dictating, consider the true urgency of finding that lost thing \u2013 is it something that can wait, even for an hour or more?\u00a0 If finding the item can wait, then distract yourself with something else \u2013 something that will take your attention for a while.\u00a0 Then you might find when you revisit the search that you can be calm and methodical and it\u2019s found quickly.<\/li>\n<li>If you need the item urgently, it\u2019s likely your reactions are going to be that much stronger and you\u2019re going to be more emotional too.\u00a0 Ideally you can take a minute or two to calm yourself.\u00a0 This can be anything that helps the anxiety subside \u2013 in order for you to think and process more clearly.<\/li>\n<li>This is not the time to problem solve what contributes to your misplacing things.\u00a0 The stress of dealing with this frequently is often a motivator for finding solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For some people, losing things is virtually a catastrophe.\u00a0 While for other people, it might be uncomfortable; it is something they largely accept as part of life.\u00a0 Both sets of people as well as everyone in-between still have to deal with strong emotions around misplaced items \u2013 no one is exempt.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing and sometimes disturbing how our emotions can distort our thinking and perceptions as well as how challenging it can be to keep them in check.\u00a0 And not just in one-way, but both sides \u2013 trying to organize or finding our things.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean avoid your feelings, rather when we can see their impact, we can make smarter choices \u2013 which sometimes means simply (or not so simply) waiting for a better time and state of mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Among all the possible reasons that we misplace things, our emotional state of mind can have a tremendous impact.  Consider both of these scenarios and what you can do about them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,8,5,9,20,22],"class_list":["post-1612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizing","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-paperwork","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-q0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1612"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1615,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}