Just as a hot air balloon is mired to the ground with sandbags, often so are we. It's not that we don't have the wind to fly; we've just got too many sandbags.
LESSON ON EXTRACTION
Do you know how many good teeth you have?
For the vast majority, the number of good teeth FAR outnumbers the bad.
You have far more good teeth but it’s the bad teeth that get all of the attention.
One bad tooth can cause us so much pain that we forget about all of the good.
So it is with life.
One bad relationship and we think all men/women are bad.
One bad experience with a member of a different race, religion or culture and we
think all who are different from us are bad.
A company can have a thousand employees and we can have one bad experience with an obnoxious employee and we think the whole company is bad.
One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch but it will eventually spoil the whole bunch if you don’t remove it. Infection spreads.
Some things you have to extract to keep them from spoiling the whole bunch.
You may need some teeth extracted to prevent further pain and to prevent the spread of infection to the rest of your body.
Extraction of things in our lives is often necessary but seldom pleasant.For teeth extraction you may have to be sedated, strapped down, and numbed.
Eagles fly high but have you ever noticed eagles don’t have a lot of stuff strapped on their backs. Some of us haven’t reached the heights that we are destined to reach because we haven’t extracted some things. There is too much on our backs and in our spirits.
As plain as I am writing this and as clear as you can see these letters, you know what things in your life need extracting. We all have them. Extraction hurts but the continuing
pain of decay hurts even worse and for much longer.
People go for counseling so that they can have a different perspective to their problems, but often, most of the stuff that they need to change, THEY ALREADY KNOW!
“I know I need to do this” “I know I need to change that” “I know this is wrong”
“I know I shouldn’t feel this way” “I know I should leave this relationship”
“I know this is not good” “I know I should. . . ”
Many already know the things in their life that need to be extracted. So do you.
The problem is not the knowledge in many instances. It’s the pain of extraction. Pulling anything with deep roots is a problem.
The closer anyone is to the child and the further they are from maturity, the more sedation, straps and numbing they will need. A child will even endure the pain for months or years until the tooth eventually falls out from the decay.
Often we endure the pain far longer than necessary until it falls out and has nearly knocked us out.
Learn the lesson of extraction.
For though we may have far more good teeth, this is a lesson we all need to know.
Sometimes what you need is not really a lift. You just need to remove some things. Just as
a hot air balloon is mired to the ground with sandbags, often so are we. It’s not that we don’t have the wind to fly; we’ve just got too many sandbags.
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The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, and give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised. ~
Norman Vincent Peale