Is your cup half full, half empty or you just need a smaller cup?  I have pondered my cup a lot over the years, and sometimes I am just grateful I have a cup at all, and at other times, I find myself battling not to over-fill it.

If I reflect back, when my cup is smaller it is, of course, much fuller.  I need to regularly challenge myself to avoid wanting a MUCH larger cup, which is filled with too many unfulfilled and unhelpful expectations, needs and wants.  On the other hand, not wanting to do or be better is also unhelpful.  How do I manage the growth of my cup so that purpose and achievements still matter and I am a continuous work-in-progress, pushing the edge of my well-being forward?

And what is in my cup anyway?  The cup of my mid-life was filled with career, family, and financial aspirations.  My present cup consists of stopping to be in the moment, to smell the coffee: taking the scenic but slower route home, and reflecting on and savouring lessons learned.  My earlier cup was more career and pleasure orientated, and my present cup more deliberately engaged and purposeful. 

I am learning to express gratitude and appreciation for both the past and the present.  The more mindful I am of my present circumstances, the more bountiful, blessed and joyful I feel.

The prize of my smaller cup is that life gets easier, letting go more automatic, judging myself and others more unnecessary and re-framing the moments optimistically becomes my default setting.  As I look at my cup over the past thirty years, I can see that the cup’s size, shape, and composition has changed: the challenge is to let that cup fill, grow and overflow continually through all the changes of life.

Please carefully design and enhance your smaller cup, then LET IT BE. As we move into 2020, let’s all try and be more grateful for what we do have, rather than envious of what we don’t.

Reflection Source: www.Smallercup.org

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