Life is like a box of pears

*Full transcript below*

Hello we are the Foolish Couple and you are watching the Foolish Insights.

The last one that Andy did was fairly lengthy so we’ll keep this one short and sweet.

We play badminton regularly with a bunch of mostly Chinese friends, and sometimes we would share some proverbs and insights and inspirations. And here’s one that we came across recently and I really want to share with all of you.

We’ve probably all know of someone, our friends maybe, that is full negative that it’s just difficult to hang out with them. They like to hang on to grudges, they could never forgive anyone or anything, even on the smallest things. They feel like everyone has wronged them somehow, and that the government is against them, society is against them, their parents and friends and family are all against them. They are never happy, they feel like everyday is a bad day and they just have the worst luck.

So here’s a man, just like the one that I’ve described, and

He bought a case of pears. Now the weather is warming up, and the fruits tend to ripen faster in warm weather. Some of the pears are little too ripe.

So, everyday, he would go through his case of pears, and pick up the 3 ripest, rotten, worst looking pears and eat them.

Day after day. He eats the rotten pears until all the pears are gone.

In the end, the man ate a case full of rotten pears.

He has a box of pears that are mostly good to start with, and yet he ended up eating all rotten pears.

Your life is like a box of pears. [Tweet this]

If you only look for the bad things that happen to you everyday, the rotten pears, the unhappiness, the misfortune, then all your life you will be eating the rotten pears. You will be unhappy.

But if you can let go of the bad, and focus on the good, then you will find that good things are happening to you. You get to eat good pears. You get to be happy, to enjoy life. You get to have everything you want. You get to enjoy the sun, not the sunburn.

Look, bad things happen to good people. Every one of us gets the rotten pears once in a while.

The art, or the skill, is to let go of the rotten pears.

The key is to focus on the good, let go of the bad.

The faster you can let go of the rotten pears, the faster you can snap out of the bad situation, the earlier you can get to your happiness, the sweet, tasty, yummy pears.

When you find yourself into a bad mood, find something that will trigger you to snap out of your bad mood. People that practices NLP is exceptionally good at that, and it usually involves an unusual movement. When I was younger, when I get angry, I used to turn my music all the way up and choose the most violent, angry, loud music I could find. And that’s is pouring oil onto a fire. It adds to my aggravation and makes me even more angry.

Now, I still listen to music, but I put on a different type of music. I would put on my airpods and put on some soft, piano music, something that you would listen to at a day spa. And I would go out for a walk at the same time. To breath in some fresh air, clear my mind, and switch my thoughts to something positive, something that will help me move on.

So, how would you snap out of your negative emotions? What would you do? Think about it. And that’s what you will do whenever you find yourself unhappy, sad, in a rut.

Until next time, love what you live, and live what you love.