'Worry Beads or a Trouble Tree? Hmmmmm"

The Trouble Tree
By: Author Unknown

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 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 up on the tree every night 
when I come 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." 



What can you come up with that will work for YOU?

"Isn't This Exciting?"

What can we do about This?



And How can we best benefit from these great New things?

" Do You Think We Can Get TOO Focussed?'

A marvelous lesson appeared for me just now as I was 
exiting thru the garage, to come to this little playplace 
they call an office.

As I opened the garage door, I startled a large moth, 
which, upon spreading it's wings, displayed a bright red 
"tail" hidden by the motley brown wings, more a "butterfly" 
than a moth.

It flew immediately to its perceived escape, the 
circle-topped window where it frantically tried to exit 
thru the invisible wall of closed glass.

I raised the third-car garage door in hopes of aiding it's 
escape. That caused it to fly higher and higher and become 
entangled in a spider web. Fearful that it would remain 
entangled in the web, I selected a long-handled broom to 
assist him escaping the tangled threads.

At this, he returned to furiously pumping his wings and 
banging into the glass, which was, in his perspective, the 
pathway of escape, but remained his cage.

By simply turning his focus to one side, he would have 
easily exited his prison. Rather, due to his intent on one 
direction, he remained confined, captive. 


Change your Vision here: http://AxelHenriksen.com
Butterfly Insights
by: Joie Lake

"Can Cancer Be Caused By A COOKIE?"

Eating the Cookie
By: Rachel Naomi Remen

Another of my patients, a successful businessmen, tells me 
that before his cancer he would become depressed unless 
things went a certain way. Happiness was "having the 
cookie." If you had the cookie, things were good. If you 
didn't have the cookie, life wasn't worth a damn. 
Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing. Some of the time 
it was money, sometimes power, sometimes sex. At other 
times, it was the new car, the biggest contract, the most 
prestigious address. A year and a half after his diagnosis 
of prostate cancer he sits shaking his head ruefully. "It's 
like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid. When 
I give my son a cookie, he is happy. If I take the cookie 
away or it breaks, he is unhappy. But he is two and a half 
and I am forty-three. It's taken me this long to understand 
that the cookie will never make me happy for long. The 
minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble or you 
start to worry about it crumbling or about someone trying 
to take it away from you. You know, you have to give up a 
lot of things to take care of the cookie, to keep it from 
crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you. 
You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so 
busy just trying not to lose it. Having the cookie is not 
what life is about."

My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him. For the 
first time he is happy. No matter if his business is doing 
well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf. "Two 
years ago, cancer asked ne, 'Okay, what's important? What 
is really important?' Well, life is important. Life. Life 
any way you can have it. Life with the cookie. Life without 
the cookie. Happiness does not have anything to do with the 
cookie, it has to do with being alive. Before, who made the 
time?" He pauses thoughtfully. "Damn, I guess life is the 
cookie." 

Why Is it That Most People Fail?

Time to Learn
by: Author Unknown

A young but earnest Zen student approached his teacher, and
asked the Zen Master:

"If I work very hard and diligent how long will it take for
me to find Zen."

The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years."

The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard
and really apply myself to learn fast -- How long then ?"

Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years."

"But, if I really, really work at it. How long then ?"
asked the student.

"Thirty years," replied the Master.

"But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student."
At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will
take me longer. Why do you say that ?"

Replied the Master," When you have one eye on the goal, you
only have one eye on the path."

'What are You only Half focusing on and in YOUR and Not Achieving?"

“Stop Winging And get On With What You Must DO NOW!”

"Do You Hold true To Your Values, Dreams and Aspiration Even In The Face Of Adversity?"

Keep your dream
by: Author Unknown

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch
in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on
fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk
programs.

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I
want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes
back to a story about a young man who was the son of an
itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable,
race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch,
training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career
was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was
asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do
when he grew up.

“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal
of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream
in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre
ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the
stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan
for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre
dream ranch.

“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the
next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he
received his paper back. On the front page was a large
red F with a note that read, `See me after class.’

“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class
and asked, `Why did I receive an F?’

“The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a
young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an
itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse
ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land.
You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later
you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you
could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, `If you will
rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will
reconsider your grade.’

“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He
asked his father what he should do. His father said, `Look,
son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I
think it is a very important decision for you.’ “Finally,
after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the
same paper, making no changes at all.

He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”

Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell
you this story because you are sitting in my
4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse
ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that
two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to
camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was
leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now.
When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream
stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams.
Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on
yours.”

“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no
matter what.”