Balloons or Rocks?

Life is a long journey, what do you want in your backpack?

1. The Backpack Full of Rocks: Imagine if you filled your backpack with heavy rocks. The rocks are like negative actions - lying, bullying, being mean, cheating, not caring for others, or spending time planning how to upset others. Just like carrying a backpack full of heavy rocks makes it difficult to walk, climb, or run, filling our lives with these negative actions weighs us down. It can make us feel guilty, unhappy, and lonely. People may not want to be our friends or trust us. This can make our journey of life really tough and tiring, and we might not reach the beautiful places we wish to see.

2. The Backpack Full of Balloons: Now imagine if instead, you filled your backpack with balloons. The balloons are like positive actions - being honest, kind, helpful, respectful, and spending time thinking about how to improve ourselves and help others. Carrying a backpack filled with balloons would be much lighter and easier, right? In the same way, filling our lives with these positive actions can make our journey of life happier, easier, and more rewarding. People will trust us, want to be our friends, and we'll feel good about ourselves. We can reach beautiful places in our life's journey, and it becomes a joy to explore!

So, the opportunity cost is like choosing between carrying rocks or balloons in our backpack. If we choose the heavy rocks, we lose the opportunity to carry the light, uplifting balloons. We also miss out on all the benefits that come with it - the friendships, the trust, the happiness, and the beautiful journey.

This is why many wise teachings of the most successful people and philosophical or religious texts, guide us to fill our life's backpack with "balloons" - positive thoughts, actions, and attitudes. This choice leads to a successful, happy life - a journey that's beautiful, enjoyable, and rewarding. And remember, it's never too late to take out the rocks and start filling our backpack with balloons!

When you wake up every morning, you may want to ask yourself, what rock you want to replace with a balloon, and what is inside that balloon that will replace what was inside the old rock that you threw away...?