Transform Your Life: How Zen Philosophy Leads To Fulfilling Your Dreams At Any Age

5 Steps To Emptying Your Cup

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My magic wand had stopped working. It seemed natural to go after my desires, put in the necessary work and actions, and things would come together eventually.

One day when I was feeling kind of low about it all, and I’m usually the cheeriest one in the room — I slipped on the steps getting off the boat, and fell onto the dock. I was fine, cursing that I had my hands full of all the stuff I needed to take up to the car for the day, and I was only wearing socks. But the fall hurt, and I felt lucky it wasn’t worse.

It was a time for pause.

As I limped up the dock to the parking lot with a swollen and sore toe, I remembered the zen story of the empty cup.

The story begins when a scholar asks the Zen master for advice. “I have come to ask you to teach me about Zen,” the scholar said.

But the scholar had so many of his own opinions he kept interrupting the master with his own knowledge and didn’t listen to what the master had to say.

The master calmly suggested they have tea. The master kept filling the cup of the scholar to overflowing and it spilled onto the floor and onto the scholar’s…