"A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While master quietly served the tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. "It's overfull! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. "You are like this cup," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"
Wisdom is simple; it is the knowledge that creates complexity. One of the main factors of stress is not having clear life directions. So often we are caught by the burning things in our lives- the day to day never ending struggles, that they create their own wicked cycle in our minds. This is what we call ‘tension’.
The 'tension’ confuses life’s important goals. Just like a computer, the mind process data from several different sources. The time, computer spends switching from one program to another, makes the computer runs slower until it completely stops. The mind works in the very same manner. It becomes so involved by the number of things that it has to do, that it spends most of its time switching from one to another, moving us further apart into the superficial stuff and further away from the basic things. We then find that we cannot concentrate on for very long, we feel we are scattered. For instance, worries, I believe are the most corrupt of all the negative thought patterns. They create stress, and bloom up when an end point of a person is reached, making him hate his life.
We need to identify these negative thought patterns in our lives and to kick them in the trash can; or to convert them into the positives ones. This 'tension' can also be permanently kicked away by calming the mind and allowing a deepening of our thoughts.
So, on an ending note, the real problem is not tension or stress, but it is that we have confused “busy-ness” with our life goals. We need to learn to be aware and conscious of our consciousness, and we will find who we really are. Let our problems starve, while we feed wisdom and opportunities. Always remember, every moment can be an opportunity to discover your real self no matter what circumstances you are bearing. It’s all a matter of where your consciousness is. So, EMPTY YOUR CUP and rock the world!
