Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to ask do I miss it? Before you
Speaker 1: were placed broken or lost items. Some things are dearly missed,
Speaker 1: but others aren't, and in the long run it can
Speaker 1: be fine to live life without them. Long time Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast listeners know that my family recently moved homes. Even
Speaker 1: though our new house is just a few miles from
Speaker 1: our old house, moving has been a complicated process, and
Speaker 1: despite careful packing and transport by us and our movers
Speaker 1: about four months post move, there are still some items
Speaker 1: that haven't turned up. I have played the piano since
Speaker 1: I was eight years old, more or less, and how
Speaker 1: far the only music I've managed to find is a
Speaker 1: book of works by Debucy and another by Bach. Who
Speaker 1: knows where the three plus decades of other music has
Speaker 1: gone to. Fortunately, I realized a few days before a
Speaker 1: family trip that I hadn't found all these suitcases yet
Speaker 1: one of my son's plans to go on an overnight
Speaker 1: backpacking trip, and sure enough, the tent is in some
Speaker 1: unknown box somewhere in the still packed storage area. These
Speaker 1: are all things I have realized are gone. But there
Speaker 1: are a great many other things that are still in
Speaker 1: their boxes that I haven't thought about at all. Boodles
Speaker 1: of books, kid clothes that don't fit anyone at the moment,
Speaker 1: many of my clothes and purses. It turns out I
Speaker 1: will never be the sort of person who needs more
Speaker 1: than one purse, or frankly much in the way of jewelry.
Speaker 1: I have some pieces I pull out for special occasions,
Speaker 1: and I guess in four months there have not been
Speaker 1: any special occasions. Go figure some of this stuff I
Speaker 1: will eventually find and use. We wound up ordering a
Speaker 1: new tent so the kid could go on his backpacking trip.
Speaker 1: But sometimes the fact that we don't miss something is
Speaker 1: a good sign that we don't need it. If you
Speaker 1: don't miss it, then it wasn't occupying a huge space
Speaker 1: in your life, and you can function without it even
Speaker 1: if you haven't moved. Whenever something is lost or broken,
Speaker 1: you can reflect on this possibility. Some research suggests that
Speaker 1: subtraction is harder than addition for our youngest math students
Speaker 1: and for problem solving. Throughout our lives, we keep adding
Speaker 1: things to our homes and task lists and schedules in
Speaker 1: an effort to make our lives better and neglect to
Speaker 1: consider how subtracting something might be preferable. When something gets
Speaker 1: lost or broken, the universe has done the subtraction for you,
Speaker 1: so instead of replacing the item right away, treat the
Speaker 1: loss as an occasion to consider whether you are better
Speaker 1: off after the subtraction without the item. Don't take it
Speaker 1: for granted that you need to add back everything that
Speaker 1: breaks or gets lost. See whether you miss the item,
Speaker 1: and make a conscious decision about whether or not to
Speaker 1: replace it. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from it. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b the number four, then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeartmedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.