“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”
~ Robert Fuller
H – Hope – full: (….or Hope-less.) You choose. And yes, it IS a choice. Both are a mental aberration (or illusion if you will) depending on the company you keep. Or the news you watch. Or the Village where you live. Yet…. one brings emotional discomfort, isolation, distress, dislike, and leads to resentments, indignation, and bitterness. The other choice brings one more emotional connectedness, anticipation and desire for happiness and goodwill, and even new aspirations for self and others. {Guess which one I would encourage!!}
O – Originality: If one remembers that they and they alone are the only ‘thinker’ in their mind, then the process of discarding OPOs is a pretty-darn quick process. When I ‘hear’ Cousin Guido’s voice echo-in-my-head when espousing the bestness of the NY Mets … that’s an OPO. With Auntie Myrtle echoing that tsk-tsk’s over one’s choice of 4-wheel drive vehicles, that too is an OPO. {And Harry Potter fans remember the irritating qualities of Moaning Myrtle!} What ever the ‘subject’ matter ~ know it-don’t-matter ~ if it is Other People’s Opinions. Little choices, big opinions, strident declarations, sinister whispers. Delightful declarations, funny anecdotes, spiritual principles. OPO’s? Unless it is Your voice and only your thoughts that echoes around the brainpan, not the reproduction and overdubbing of another’s, then that thought-you’re-thinking about (fill in the blank) is just another OPO. What’s often left after discarding ‘their stuff’ is a bemusing, baffling, and bewildering condition that can leave one flummoxed (haha ~ fun word!) First a “huh” moment: “What do I think? This tends to be followed by a “duh” moment instead: What do I think? Hmmmm. Find out!
P – Perspective: GPS vs Rand McNally. I am reiterating the mantra to Live in, Be in, the Now. That’s GPS. Right here, right now. The only place I can truly, effectively, create change. Hoowww…ever …. to have an authentic understanding of why I have the perspective I have, I find the Rand McNally immeasurably helpful. Often immensely helpful. I can trace outward, sideways, AND even backwards, to the places I’ve been. Or chose to bypass. Places I’ve been intrigued by: where friends grew up; where Cousin Guido and Aunt Myrtle resided. Where the Village of Voices created their opinions. Understand the terrain, see the desert or the mountains. Outlines of big rivers and meandering streams. The Monuments placed where other Opinions were formed and declared ~ for their reasons, their ‘now,’ their culture and customs. I can find understanding of their ‘whys.’ Doesn’t mean they are mine, in my Now, my culture structure. Yet, I can gain understanding. Gives me a new perspective of what they may have experienced. Then …. I turn back to GPS ‘cuz that’s where I am, right here and right now.
E – Evaluation: Taking one’s Originality, and recognizing one’s (hopefully new) Perspective. Then, Evaluating the information (or ‘data’ as I like to call it). All combined, creating a template for choosing how I plan to deal with and live my life. Choose: Hopeful ~ or Hopeless. {Guess again which one I encourage!!}