Picture yourself walking down a busy street trying to get to an important meeting. In your hand you are carrying a cup of coffee. Out of nowhere another person runs right into you and causes you to spill coffee all over yourself. Later on someone asks why you spilled coffee all over yourself and your answer is naturally, “because someone ran into me.” But stop and think about that for a second and you’ll realize that this is the wrong answer. You actually spilled coffee because there was coffee in your cup. If there had been tea in your cup, you would’ve spilled tea. If there was water in your cup, you would’ve spilled water. Whatever is inside our cup is what will spill out.
You see, life is going to come out of nowhere and it is going to run right into you. And when this happens it’s what we’re holding onto or what’s inside of us that spills over. The problem is, often when everything is going good, we have no idea what we’re holding onto and then life punches us in the face and it all comes pouring out. All of a sudden you realize what you’ve filled your cup with and if you’re like me, you probably don’t like it too much. Reflect with me for a second. When this happens, what comes out? Is it anger, frustration, and stress? Or is it happiness, joy, and gratitude?
Being home and relaxing for a few days has given me the opportunity to really reflect on this. Over the years I have begun to notice my cup full of negative and toxic feelings and I know many of you can relate. When life hits us in the face a lot of us let our negative feelings out. Recently however, I’ve been toying with the idea of being more proactive with this. If we take the cup analogy seriously, imagine how different our lives could be if we filled our cup to the top with joy and happiness. Then when life runs right into you, these are the emotions that come pouring out. Truly I say to you that the person who can be joyful even in the worst of times is the person that I want to be around. So why wouldn’t you want to actually be that person?
It doesn’t have to be a massive change all at once either! Trust me when I say that this kind of mindset change is a process. Recently I’ve gone from feeling very at peace and joyful one moment to then punching a wall the very next. I know better than anyone how hard it can be. My best advice is to slowly fill your cup with positive emotions. Throw some love in there. Some empathy, some kindness and some joy. That way when you’re shaken, these are the things that spill out. You will be amazed at the difference in your life. My reflection has led me to challenge myself in this area of my life and I want to invite any and all of you to come along on this journey with me.
I want to make a conscious effort to let go of a lot of the negative that sits on the surface of my life. I want to be the man that walks in happiness regardless of his circumstances. Life is going to hit me in the face. And it’s is going to happen over and over again. All I can do is prepare my cup so that when it does, all my joy spills out.
James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”