Day 65.

Do you remember the story of Chippie the Parakeet as told by Chuck Swindol? The bird’s problem began when the women who owned him decided to clean the loose seed and feathers from the bottom of the cage with the vacuum cleaner. The phone rang in the middle of the job and when she turns to answer it – thowoosh – Chippie was gone. She quickly unzipped the vacuum bag and there he was, stunned but still breathing. Seeing him covered in black dust she rushed him off to the bathtub and held him under the icy water. Then realizing that she had done more damage than good she cranked up the hair dryer and gave the wet shivering little parakeet a hot blast. Chuck Swindol finished the story by saying “Chippie doesn’t sing anymore!”

People who cannot overcome the past are like Chippie. They allow their negative experiences to color the way they live their lives. Problems will always multiply in our lives. Just like the lady who rang the police station to say, “There’s a skunk in my basement what should I do?” The officer said lady here’s what you should do, make a trail of breadcrumbs from your basement to the yard and then wait for the skunk to follow it out. A few hours later she rang back to report that now she had two skunks in her basement!!

You see our problems multiply and the solutions we put in place do not always work. Everyone suffers genuine tragedies in this imperfect world. We lose children, spouses, parents, friends, jobs, income, and homes, sometimes in horrible circumstances. I have experienced every one of these, but I have not allowed these to reduce me to being unproductive and not living life to the full. Tragedies do not have to stop a person possessing a positive outlook. No matter how dark a person’s past is it does not have to colour the present. Our experiences in the past will either make us bitter or better.

Every difficulty you face is a fork in the road. You must choose which track you head down either towards breakthrough or breakdown. All of us experience unfair circumstances. This is not a fair world. Experts say that you can expect from 3 -9 critical turning points in life. These can be happy or unhappy ones, e.g., a job loss, divorce, financial setbacks, health problems, death of loved ones and so the list goes on.

If we have been baldly hurt, then we need to start by acknowledging the pain and grieving any loss that has been experienced. We must forgive those involved including yourself. If you cannot do this on your own, then you must enlist professional help. To move forward you must say goodbye to yesterday.