For the past few weeks, I found myself easily upset and spoke of harsh comments. I have known myself to be kind and gentle to my children. The boys had the same observation. Perhaps the upcoming school enrollment and our baby’s birthday celebration might have caused my crankiness.
Anyway, what is the point then?
A priest, through his sermon, shared the story of the TROUBLE TREE. I really like how the carpenter puts his trouble behind him and faces a new undertaking with a positive mood. It is something we ALL could learn from.
THE TROUBLE TREE
The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work. His electric saw quit, and now his ancient pick-up truck refused to start.
While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.
On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a tall tree, touching tips of the branches with both hands.
When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed with smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterwards he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.
“Oh, that’s my trouble tree” he replied. “I know that I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing’s for sure. Troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I get home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.
“Funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick ‘em up, there ain’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”
—
Setting boundaries around our troubles is indeed a good way to put off unwanted conflicts caused by our grumpiness. Let us not make someone else miserable with our own unhappiness.
Sorry, boys, for being a nightmare. And thank you, dear Lord, for waking me up.
It’s an inspirational story and one that I’m sure will come in handy for me to remember. Because we are all just human. Right?
Yes, we could always make mistakes but we can also have our own trouble tree to leave those bad experiences behind.
I love this concept of a trouble tree. He is a very wise man.
Indeed a wise man. Love reading it again and again.
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This is such a sweet and humbling message. Will then check this. Thank you.
you are most welcome ! 🙂
What a wise man and very inspirational. I like.
I like it too. And would like to do the same. I hope i could do it continuously.
That’s a very good message especially for people who are working. It’s important that we leave troubles where they should be left and not lash out on the people who are watching our backs.
I agree. Difficult but should be or necessary.
I have never heard that story before but I love it. I think being able to let go of your troubles even for a couple hours is a great skill and how successful people are able to function every day in life.
Yes, its truly inspirational and i hope i could do it as well.
I liked the analogy. But in reality, stress gets the better of us from time to time, and the poor people in our circle is always at the receiving end of our wrath. Good thing we have an understanding and resilient family.
I love how you describe our family. Indeed they are very resilient and so forgiving.
Tama! Kung me problema, find a way to channel them somewhere and turn troubles into positives! That way, hindi maapektuhan ang ibang tao, lalo mga loved ones mo.
Mismo, sir. 🙂 pero minsan hirap gawin.
Ya. Its wonderful! Its always good to leave stress behind but its extremely difficult. Great post, thought provoking
Extremely difficult. I super agree. But needed to really leave stress behind or else our relationship with our loved ones would suffer.
“Let us not make someone else miserable with our own unhappiness”- love this! I’m a walking ball of anxiety and have been known to snap at people when I’m not in the mood, so this a good reminder. I love the story too! There really is value in keeping our family insulated from the external stress that we’re experiencing. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome. And thank you, too, for appreciating the story / post.
That’s wonderful story. I would probably have made the same conclusion with the moral from that sermon and we do have the ability to rid ourselves of negativity.
Such a wonderful story. Another lesson learned.
What a sweet story! You care so much about your sons. I’m sure you do everything you can to keep your trouble away from them. I also have work stress from time to time that makes me grumpy. I try to remind myself of the things that are truly important to me and keep my stress away from those things that are really precious.
Such sweet words to read. I always look forward to reading your comments. They are really sensible. Thank you.
What a great way to keep our bad moods and temper in check. I am going to put this into practice in my own life. Thanks!
Yes, such a nice way to wake us also of our bad moods.
What a truly inspiring story! I’ve never heard about it before. This is really helpful for me because I find it hard to control some emotions like anger and anxiety. I try to mentally leave it, but my body responds as if there’s still a foreign invader. I have to find my own tree in which to hang the bad vibes, so to speak.
Yes, trying hard to do the same and use the tree instead.
What a wise man and I love reading this post. It makes me inspired
Thank you. Indeed a wise man.
Great way to ease your troubles away! There are times too when my patience really goes to the boiling point. What I usually do is go out outside the house for a while and let me temper go. In that way my kids will not see me angry and once I go home, I will just kiss and hug them.
Such a sweet and thoughtful act. Should practice that as well. Thanks.
Great story! It reminds us to leave our troubles behind and spare our loved ones from them. It’s always good to talk to them about it, but not burden them too much with our pain.
Yes, talking with them is another way. Thanks for this.
There is a saying, when you encounter a problem, instead of getting angry about it, just park it and go on with your day. When you will return to deal with it, it won’t looks so bad anymore.
Such a nice saying. Hope i be able to reflect on it and apply it as well. Thanks.
awe that really is a fantastic story. I love it so much that I’m going to share it with the family.
Thank you for appreciating the story. Truly worth sharing.
What a great story. I love the whole concept of a trouble tree. That’s so neat!
Love it as well. Learned a lot from it and hoping I could live and survive with my own trouble tree.
This is an amazing story! I will have to remember this story and share with some of my family! Thank you for sharing!
Yes, such a nice story not to share with family and even friends.
Wow, just another way of spreading good vibes! It’s a healthy tip for people who are often focused on the negative things. I think, di ba, let’s live in the moment.
Yup, indeed spreading good vibes. 🙂
I especially love the part where there didn’t seem to be as many in the morning. Love it!
Yes. I agree. That’s a nice part indeed.
brilliant, thanks for sharing! it’s inspirational, because we are all human after all. there just comes that point
You are welcome. Such a inspiring story indeed.
This is a nice story! We really get cranky at times and I have experienced this recently. This is a good reminder that we really have to leave our troubles behind and be happy especially in front of the kids.
Yes, I agree. I just hope I will be consistent on making use of my trouble tree. I do not want to hurt my family in any way.
Whenever I start to feel that I’m losing my patience with my son I tell him to give me a few minutes to calm down. Sometimes I only need 5 minutes to just reflect. Is that or I yell lol
A nice way indeed. I guess I need that as well. Thank you for sharing.
What a wonderful story! I don’t have kids yet but I definitely learned an important lesson for the future!
Such a nice story indeed. Hope I be able to use correctly my trouble tree.
I’m often guilty of grumpiness lol…this is a great lesson to keep in mind, to not take out our anger on other people
Yes, i agree. And i pray i could make use of my trouble tree wisely and effectively.