We are a complicated being. There are many elements of who and what we are: mind, body, spirit, soul and heart. Do you check in with these elements on a daily basis? Life in our society is so busy. We are always on edge, juggling the demands of life. Do you ever feel that there is so much going on that it feels like you are swinging from one thought, image, or feeling to another? We call this the “monkey mind”, swinging from one distraction to another; from one vine to another. It can often feel like a cup boiling up and almost boiling over. It is no wonder that we struggle to accomplish anything; sometimes to even start what we need to get done.
Keeping with the cup boiling over, image a cup that is full. There is no room to add anything else. Now if this cup is full of old, stagnant, pungent water and you are extremely thirty, this cup of oldness is not going to serve you well. So what would you do? You would empty out the staleness, making room in the cup for fresh nourishing water.
You are your cup of life. Just as you are unable to add fresh water to a cup overflowing with staleness, you are unable to add with ease any new positive elements in your life when you yourself are overflowing with staleness. What do I mean by “staleness” in you as your cup of life? I mean those thoughts, memories, cringe-worthy images or experiences that you hold onto and often revisit from the past. You know the ones: the ones that your mind decides to parade before you as you try to sleep at 3AM; or the ones that you revisit in your mind when you are alone in the car. This “staleness” does not serve you. We cannot change what has happened in the past; we can only learn from it. We need to let go to make room in your cup of life for that which does serve you. The more you let go of this “staleness” the less power it has over you and the more room you have in your elements, your cup of life, for that which does serve you; living your life as you choose to live it.
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