Regardless of where you are in your life right now, you are no stranger to trouble. I know I’m not. It seems that not a week goes by where I’m not faced with some issue or a tough decision that must be made.
You may not think so, but all of these things weigh heavily upon us. Our minds, our health, our spirits and our attitudes are not all at their peak.
Well, I came across a very short, but inspiring story that I’d like to share with you today called The Trouble Tree. You may read it below:
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 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 the branches with both hands. When opening 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 on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.”
He paused. “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.”
~Author Anonymous
So for those of you out there with any type of trouble today, consider creating your own trouble tree. Your family, friends and your own mind just might appreciate you for it. 
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A Quick Announcement
Last week, I posted a giveaway for you the readers here at Personal Finance Notebook. Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments. Your words made me realize that although this community is very small, I have a good concept going here and I need to be extremely dedicated to improving and marketing it. I have to remind myself that this is a work in progress. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be implementing a few changes, updates and additions to the site. Just a little side note, if you are signed up as an email update reader, please be on the lookout for a personal email from me in the near future.
Also if you didn’t make a comment, but you read the articles posted here (maybe you were a little shy), thank you as well. I know I say this all the time, but I really appreciate the time you take to read Personal Finance Notebook each week. It can only go up from here!
Ok, Ok…enough with all the preliminaries, 0n to announcing the winner of the $25 Amazon gift card. The winner is: Eric Watermolen (commenter #3) Congratulations, Eric!
Ghost Tree Image by John-Morgan
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Your story is very inspiring. Thank you so much for such a post. A lot of people have troubles, whether financial or otherwise, but that doesn’t mean they should take it out on their friends and family.
Financial problems specifically makes up a significant proportion of the cause of divorces and other family problems. If only more people will be as selfless as the man in your story, we could make our world a so much better place to live in.
Cheers,
Wahid
Woohoo! I’m very excited to win the Amazon gift card. Thanks so much!
I love the idea of a trouble tree, I had never heard this story before. I like the physical representation of a mental activity. Manifesting our thoughts through physical representation is a powerful technique, and this is an excellent example.
Patrenia,
What a wonderful story. Seriously. I’m a strong believer in leaving your emotional baggage where it should be. Don’t mix work and home and vice versa. This simple story painted a perfect picture on how we should handle unwanted stress. I’m glad I came here from Eric’s site and read this.
Thanks for sharing!
Ali
Allowing your troubles to get the best of you is the worst thing you could do for those who surround you. This is an amazing story of how one man would keep from “hanging” his troubles on his family. I often find myself hanging my troubles on others (unintentionally). To get into the habit of actually hanging your troubles on a physical object would be truly relieving. I personally am going to give this a try!