Five Cents

Over the years I have had a collection of five cent pieces that was growing by the day. A couple of years back, upon moving house, I threw them into a suitcase forgetting their existence. This week, after moving house again I discovered them. They were held in an enclosed box and were dirty and grimy. I decided to make use of them by washing them to take to the bank in order to convert them to dollar notes. The pieces on their own are worth little but collectively they are of significant value.

When we look back over the years, the isolated experiences and learnings that we've been involved in are seemingly insignificant - amounting to not much more than five cents. Whether they be falling in love, raising children, a work promotion or demotion, meaningful friendships, being educated in a certain field, misdemeanours and conduct failure, crisis and pain... all of these and more, are isolated incidences of seemingly small value collectively growing over the years. They may seem of no value at all but collectively, every single experience amounts to something.

The value of time and the passing of years builds this wealth slowly. We can choose to lock them away in the suitcase of our mind and emotions or we can take them out and cash them in for something of higher value.

Some of the coins are clean. These represent the positive life experiences like falling in love or a new challenging career. Other coins are dirty and grimy. These are the perceived negative experiences we'd prefer not come to light, not to deal with, to stay locked away. I have come to see that both the clean and the grimy all have value. Nothing is wasted.

Take time to reflect on the five cent experiences of your life. What were they? What are they saying? Who are you now because of them? With the individual experiences of your history, what do they tell you about the present and where you possibly should be heading in the future?

Take time to cash them in. The value could be enormous.