The Serious Side Of The Lighter Side When Flowing From Emptiness

When I read your 2018 conference theme, April, what popped into my head at a late hour was the opposite. What happens when I’m not flowing from emptiness, when I’m trying to figure everything out (since I like to analyze things), trying to find reasons for things, when I’m not trusting, not going with the flow… and how that creates worry, tension, fear and anxiety.

The flip side? How easy and effortless it is when I trust, when I’m in the flow, how peaceful and content it is.

On a different note, when I used to teach karate, I would often tell the “empty your cup” story. When the disciple asks the master to teach him (after bragging to the master what he knew), they sit down and have a cup of tea. The master told the disciple to pour himself a cup of tea, and he did. Then he told him to pour another cup (for the master) and he would tell him when to stop pouring. The disciple poured the tea and was waiting for the master to tell him when to stop when the tea was coming close to the top of the cup. But the master kept quiet. Of course the tea overflowed and spilled all over the place. The master told the disciple that he was like that cup, so full of all his preconceived notions about things and everything he thought he knew, that there was no room to let anything in. The master told the disciple: empty your cup, then he would be able to teach him, then there would be room for the learning.

So what does this have to do with the price of eggs, you may ask? I’m not sure, I just felt like rambling. To connect the dot, we need to empty our cups when we get correction on our moves. (How often do we hear: so and so taught it that way, I learned it this way.) We need to empty our cups when we think things “should” be done “our” way, and they are not. That’ll do for now. As I always tell my students, I offer seeds, and if they resonate, take them. If not, throw them out.