“You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.
Why did you spill the coffee?
“Well because someone bumped into me, of course!”
Wrong answer.
You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.
Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.
Whatever is inside the cup, is what will spill out.
Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.
So we have to ask ourselves… ”what’s in my cup?”
When life gets tough, what spills over?
Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility?
Or anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions?
You choose!
Today let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation for ourselves; and kindness, gentleness and love for others.”
We’ve all been there – walking down the street, hand curled around a hot cup of coffee, when someone bumps into you, jostling your arm and causing the dark liquid to splash out and spill all over. The natural reaction is to glare at the culprit who made you spill your drink. How dare they! But what if it wasn’t actually their fault? What if the spill was inevitable based on what was inside the cup?
This analogy asks us to shift perspective – to stop blaming outside forces and instead look inward. Like the coffee cup, we all get shaken up by life at times. When difficult or stressful situations arise, how we react ultimately comes down to our inner state. As the analogy goes, “Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.”
The Set Up – The Coffee and the Bump
Picture yourself carefully walking with a full cup of hot, freshly brewed coffee. The heat warms your hand, and the aroma fills your senses. Suddenly, a stranger rounds the corner quickly, bumping your arm and causing the dark liquid to splash up and out of the cup, splattering all over the sidewalk. The coffee spills everywhere! Your first instinct is probably to give the stranger an angry look or make a rude comment about their clumsiness. After all, if they hadn’t bumped into you, you wouldn’t have spilled your coffee. Right?
Not so fast. The analogy tells us to look at what was inside the cup – the coffee itself – rather than blaming the bump.
It’s Not About the Bump, It’s About the Coffee
Spilling the coffee may have been triggered by the outside force of getting bumped, but the spill itself happened because of what was inside the cup – the actual coffee. Had the cup contained tea instead, tea would have spilled. The spill was determined not by the bump but by the contents of the cup.
This analogy encourages deeper self-reflection about our natural reactions to life’s bumps and shakes. Getting rattled is inevitable, but how we respond comes from within.
Digging Deeper – What’s Really Inside Your Cup?
We all have inner cups that hold our default reactions and emotions. When life bumps into us, what tends to spill over? Do we overflow with optimism, humor, and empathy for others? Or does criticism, frustration, and self-pity spill out?
Some reflection questions to ask yourself:
- What emotions tend to rise up when you feel stressed or wronged?
- Are there patterns in how you react to difficult co-workers, traffic jams, or long lines?
- Do you spill more positive or negative? Joy or anger?
The bumps will come, whether we prepare for them or not. But we can be intentional about what we nurture inside.
The Bumps Will Come, So Choose What to Fill Your Cup With
Challenges, upsets, and things gone wrong are an inevitable part of life. As the saying goes, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.” We can’t avoid getting bumped into or control outer circumstances. What we can control is our inner life and how we prepare ourselves.
By purposefully cultivating qualities like gratitude, optimism, and emotional intelligence, we set ourselves up to stay calm and spill more positivity when difficulty strikes. By filling our cup with empathy and understanding for others, we improve relationships and handle conflict better.
Spilling Over with Joy Versus Anger
Imagine getting jostled and looking down to see kindness and cheerful optimism flooding out of your cup instead of bitterness and harsh words. We all have the power to shift our inner contents from negative to positive.
Instead of spilling anger when wronged, we can take a breath and spill understanding. When stressed, instead of impatience, we can spill calm. By choosing joy and emotional awareness, we react graciously rather than resentfully when life shakes us up.
Take Responsibility for Your Cup
At the end of the day, we have to take ownership over our inner lives. No one else can shift what’s inside our cup. We alone choose how to fill it and develop habits that spill positivity or negativity.
Here are some tips for taking responsibility over your cup:
- Start each day intentionally: Set a positive tone and give thanks.
- Check yourself when you feel anger or other negative emotions rising up. Pause and breathe.
- Identify patterns in your reactions so you can anticipate and better manage them.
- Actively cultivate good qualities that will serve you well when life gets shaky.
Staying Centered When Life Gets Shaky
When a stressful situation arises, utilize tools like mindfulness, perspective-taking, and controlling your automatic reactions to stay centered. Avoid spilling emotional responses you’ll later regret. Here are some ideas:
- When you feel your anger rising, take a few deep breaths to calm down before reacting.
- Consider the situation from the other person’s perspective – why might they be acting that way?
- Express your feelings in a constructive manner once you’ve gained composure.
- Remind yourself external things are out of your control – focus on your response.
Choose Joy and Peace – A Prescription for All Times
We all share the fundamental human desire to be happy and at peace. By taking time for self-reflection and intentionally nurturing positive qualities that bring out our best self, we can handle life’s bumps with more grace, maintain healthier relationships, and live with greater enjoyment.
No matter what circumstances arise, we can all aim to fill our cups with things like gratitude, empathy, and emotional awareness. When life spills over, what a beautiful thing if it’s joy, understanding, and kindness that come pouring out.
So next time you get shaken up, don’t just blame the bump. Take a look inside and make sure your cup contains everything you want spilling over. The responsibility is yours.
