#37 What's In Your Cup?

My wife gets home from work just before midnight. As per my normal routine I am still up waiting on her safe return home. Sometimes I’m just reading, trying hard to stay awake and sometimes I’m in my office on the computer. Last night I was just sitting and waiting. When she came in, the first thing she said after “hi” was, “so did you hear the good news”? Since I don’t pay attention to mainstream media, I said, “no, what news”? Well, apparently the CDC lifted the mask mandate nationwide for those fully “vaccinated” individuals. A few exceptions are planes and buses. I said, “wow, that’s great!” She knows how much I really hate those things and make no bones about making sure everyone around me knows it.

Of course, early this morning I checked on the story and low and behold, she was right last night. But wait, what’s this that I’m reading? Oh, it’s our illustrious New York State governor saying no, not our state. So, once she awoke and with her eyes barely opened, she came into my office to say good morning, I presented her with the headlines. She immediately said, “no, not yet it’s too early”! She needed coffee first. I feel her pain.

Anyway, I could go on about all this in my usual fashion, as it can make my blood boil, but it isn’t my platform for this blog post or any blog post for that matter. But what is my platform today is what I was inspired with from my morning meditation and inspirational reading time. It kind of plays into my lead in story by way of our responses to each other’s news from the outside world.

You’re holding a cup of coffee and someone bumps into you, causing you to spill your coffee all over everything around you. Here’s the trick question. Why did you spill the coffee? I suppose you would think the answer is obvious, right? Because someone bumped into you. Nope, wrong! You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in the cup. Had there been tea in the cup you would have spilled tea. Whatever is in the cup is what spills out.

In life there is always going to be someone who “bumps into you”. So, whatever is inside of you will come out. These are particularly difficult and emotional times to say the least. We all harbor some kind of feeling, opinion or emotion simply because we are in the world and have to respond or react to the stimuli in our face, (or on it). And when we get shaken, our truth will spill out and be known.

So, you’ve got to ask yourself, “what’s inside of me”? When you get roughed up what comes out of you? Is it rage or disgust or some other nasty negative display? Or do you become casually unmoved maintaining your peace and composure? Chances are most of us react with cat like reflexes and spout before we think. You may even believe it’s natural. No, it’s easier but it sure shouldn’t be natural.

Now more than ever the world situation is giving us all a golden opportunity to reset ourselves from the inside, outward. The only way that happens is by shoring up your foundation with daily meditation and introspection. Cultivate your inner peace and don’t be afraid to have a dialog with the Creator of all life, however you envision that. Just a few minutes at the beginning of your day to start. With time and commitment, you will, as Gandhi said, “become the change you want to see”. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’ve been practicing for years and I still have a long way to go but to my credit, I am aware and do think before I spout. Well, most of the time.

What’s in your cup?