October 27, 2015

There is an old story: The Master came with tea to a scholar seeking to learn. He poured the tea into the scholars cup until it began to run over, and on the floor. The scholar shouted, “Stop! The cup is full. You can not fill it any more.” To which, the master replied, “You are like this cup. You must empty yourself before any learning can enter.”

Back to Baseline

It is very important to regularly, and consciously make an effort to return to baseline, or move closer to it. We become too full with ideas, and perspectives to see our lives clearly. Pruning a plant is often necessary to allow it to grow back fuller, stronger, and to bloom. We are the same way.

Allowing ourselves to be away from the people and/or circumstances that make up our lives helps us to get back to a sort of baseline. That is, a mental state less cluttered by thoughts, ideas, and expectations that are not necessarily even our own. It’s like getting some of the thick dried mud off your tires or shoes. Being away mentally helps us discard notions that are really just weighing us down without any real purpose. They just sort of got stuck to us, and until we knock them off they only serve to make life a little more slow and awkward.

When we are able to separate ourselves, and our thoughts from our usual surroundings for some period of time we begin to reestablish more objective reactions to the people, and events around us. We are more able to enter into interactions with friends and coworkers without a bunch of baggage. We are better able to see them in that new situation, just as it is. We can discard a lot of ideas we may carry with us about a particular person, that just aren’t applicable anymore, or at least are only serving to hold us back.

It works the same way with the world. Constantly consuming information tends to warp our world view. See, we have a natural mental tendency to avoid cognitive dissonance. We see what we want to see, and we tend to seek out information that reinforces those views. The news doesn’t help, because it often skews our subconscious ideas about the amount of good vs evil present in the world. Social media networks are becoming better at showing you content most like the ideas you have preferred in the past. Meaning, you see more and more of that view point, and nothing else. This reinforces that this is the correct view point. It is only by blocking all of this out for a while that we are able to reconnect with our own self, and what we personally actually think.

However, for this to work you need to understand something very important. You are wrong… a lot. I am wrong, even more. We do not know everything. We are not correct all the time. The things we believe are heavily influenced by our perspectives, identities, and experiences. Perhaps so much so that some will say there is no objective reality. However, it is by taking a step back that we are able to let go of some of those old perspectives, identities, and experiences to make room for new ones.

-Michael

In the upcoming weeks I will be discussing how to make time for these opportunities to get away mentally, as well as how emptying yourself is a crucial piece of becoming more successful. So, if you thought this was helpful, subscribe below to receive these, and more regular articles to help and inspire.

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