“I once hired a carpenter to help me fix an old fence. He was working on it and when he was about to finish, after a long hard day of work one of his main tools broke down, making him waste a lot of time. When he was finally done, he loaded everything in his old truck but another problem came up. Now, the truck wouldn’t start.
Feeling sorry for the old man, I offered him a ride home. He gladly accepted. He sat quietly in the passenger’s seat and remained quietly until we got to his house.
When we arrived, he invited me in to meet his family.
We started walking towards the front door when he suddenly stopped in front of a little tree and started touching the branches with both hands, just for a few seconds.
Then, he opened the door and an amazing transformation took place. He had a big beautiful smile on his tanned face. He hugged his children and gave his wife a kiss. He was happy, very happy. All the problems seemed to have disappeared.
After being introduced and saying hello to his family, he walked me to my car. But when we passed by the little tree I felt very curious about what he had done before so I asked him about it.
He replied, “Oh, this is the tree of problems. I know sometimes I can’t stop problems from coming to my life, but when they come I make sure those problems don’t enter my house. Those problems do not belong here, to my wife or children. So, I simply hang them on this tree every night when I get home. Then in the morning, I pick them up and deal with them. But you know, something funny happens, he said. When I wake up the next morning there are not so many problems hanging on the tree like I thought they were the night before!”
Think about it for a moment. How many times do we carry our problems home and we bring all our frustration and anger to the people we love the most. How can we be so selfish? How can we expect others who, by the way also have their own problems, to put up with us and our stuff. Sometimes we feel so bad, so miserable that we don’t want anybody to feel happy. This is mostly done unconsciously but it is done anyways. So, the only way to stop this behavior is to first recognize it and then by becoming aware of this, it will start to dissolve.
So, find a tree and start hanging your problems before you enter your home. Enter in peace, appreciating what you have, staying present and feeling calmed, knowing that your problems are hanging outside, in the tree. You will deal with them in the morning and you may find out there were not so many after all…
Feeling sorry for the old man, I offered him a ride home. He gladly accepted. He sat quietly in the passenger’s seat and remained quietly until we got to his house.
When we arrived, he invited me in to meet his family.
We started walking towards the front door when he suddenly stopped in front of a little tree and started touching the branches with both hands, just for a few seconds.
Then, he opened the door and an amazing transformation took place. He had a big beautiful smile on his tanned face. He hugged his children and gave his wife a kiss. He was happy, very happy. All the problems seemed to have disappeared.
After being introduced and saying hello to his family, he walked me to my car. But when we passed by the little tree I felt very curious about what he had done before so I asked him about it.
He replied, “Oh, this is the tree of problems. I know sometimes I can’t stop problems from coming to my life, but when they come I make sure those problems don’t enter my house. Those problems do not belong here, to my wife or children. So, I simply hang them on this tree every night when I get home. Then in the morning, I pick them up and deal with them. But you know, something funny happens, he said. When I wake up the next morning there are not so many problems hanging on the tree like I thought they were the night before!”
Think about it for a moment. How many times do we carry our problems home and we bring all our frustration and anger to the people we love the most. How can we be so selfish? How can we expect others who, by the way also have their own problems, to put up with us and our stuff. Sometimes we feel so bad, so miserable that we don’t want anybody to feel happy. This is mostly done unconsciously but it is done anyways. So, the only way to stop this behavior is to first recognize it and then by becoming aware of this, it will start to dissolve.
So, find a tree and start hanging your problems before you enter your home. Enter in peace, appreciating what you have, staying present and feeling calmed, knowing that your problems are hanging outside, in the tree. You will deal with them in the morning and you may find out there were not so many after all…
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