Winnie the Pooh or Eeyore. Which one are you?
When my son, Christopher, was very young his favorite toy character was Winnie the Pooh. I was happy with that as Winnie the Pooh was one of my heroes. Unlike many of us, Pooh knows what will make him happy, and he pursues it with passion. When the honey pot waits, he is not diverted by anything that gets in his way—not bees, not blustery days, not getting stuck in a tree.
He could teach us all about being persistent, single-minded, and never having a harsh word to say. Pooh was always happy no matter how hard things got for him. And isn’t that what we all want to be.
Because Pooh went after what he wanted, and worked until the end to attain it, his days were filled with accomplishments and successful adventures. Wouldn’t we want all of our days to be like this.
On the other hand, Pooh has a donkey friend named Eeyore. Unlike Pooh, Eeyore spends his days worrying, complaining, doubting, and insisting that nothing good will ever happen. He is the epidemy of “Oh woe is me”. At the end of the day, unlike Pooh who is reveling in a pot of honey, Eeyore has had the kind of day he had expected. Even predetermined with his attitude. Sad and unaccomplished.
We have all heard it said that we “reap what we sow.” We get from life what we ask of it. If we think we can or if we think we can’t, both are correct.
At the beginning of each day, we can choose to be Pooh, expecting to have fun, happiness and accomplishments; or we can make the choice to be an Eeyore. We can choose to worry about everything, complain that we will never have what we need, blame others for our plight in life, and pronounce at every turn that life has treated us unfairly. This not only robs us of today, but it prevents us from having any expectation of things being better tomorrow.
Our path to abundant living needs to begin with a choice of attitudes. We need to believe that we are meant to be happy, that we are meant to be prosperous, and that all good things await us. We write the script of our lives each day and every time we make a life choice. Let’s choose Pooh “and live happily ever after.”
– Mary Grace Musuneggi