The Trouble Tree

Here’s a cute little story with a great lesson to learn:

I hired a carpenter to help me restore an old farmhouse. He had 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 pickup 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 small tree, touching the tips of some branches with both hands. As he opened the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward 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 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 the children. So, I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again." Then he smiled and said, "Funny thing is, when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

After reading this story the first thing I thought to myself was, I gotta get me one of these “Trouble Trees.” While I do think planting a tree and assigning it to be a “Trouble Tree” would be kind of fun I also don’t know how practical that would be. For one thing, I live in NY and my 4x4 backyard just isn’t the most conducive place to be tree planting as well as I believe trees take about thirty years to grow!

I do though love the concept of this. Many times we have a tough day at work or at school and we come home carrying these negative feelings, looking for somewhere or someone to dump them on.

Think about it, that’s pretty silly. What happened earlier, happened, and granted you can’t go back and change that but why take it with you any further?

Especially when coming home and spending time with your family or your friends there’s really no reason to bring any downbeat energy with you.

So next time you have a tough day take an extra minute before you enter your home and just hang those troubles up on your makeshift tree.

Trust me, when it comes morning and you go to retrieve them, most will have been long blown away with the wind!