My teapot leaked. I was doing a cleanse, 3 meals of congee, a rice porridge as part of an Ayurvedic cleanse, and could not eat any sweets, sugar, dairy or snacks. My daily solace was my herbal rose tea which I proceeded to spill all over my desk. It ran into my keyboard and drenched my papers, just as I was getting ready to start my morning. So much for a moment of pleasure to drop in and connect.

Some days are like that. An unexpected annoyance comes up out of the blue to put a damper on your plans. Your well-oiled machine grinds to a halt as you have to deal with the sh*t that just blew up.

In this case, I couldn’t ignore or push past the issue because it was staring me in the face, on my desk, in my work space. It needed to be cleaned up and I needed to drop into Being. Present. Now. Not doing, but rather dealing.

As I sadly mopped up my spilt tea, I realized that I need to be even more mindful. I would say vigilant, but that has a certain aggressiveness to it. More like constantly aware. The meditations I’d been doing over my food weren’t enough.  I hadn’t paid attention to how my tea had leaked out of its metal holder blocking up the spout.  Now of course I had observed the tea wasn’t flowing smoothly, but I chose to ignore it. Then it was immediately brought to my attention by the huge tea spill over. The fall out, if you will, helped me uncover and expose the underlying cause.

LIFE MIRRORS OUR EXPERIENCE

“Stop ignoring me!”  The tea mess was literally screaming in my face and it finally got my attention. If you hadn’t guessed, I see this tea melodrama as a metaphor for our life and work experiences. We keep trying to ignore important stuff (mostly emotions, challenging experiences, people or situations), hoping they will go away. Yet they are demanding that we notice and will make sure to get our attention until we do.

Some examples come to mind. The boss that dings you in your performance review after some previous critical feedback wasn’t discussed. The peer who seems collegial to your face, but then makes snarky email comments or takes credit for your ideas. The supposed friend who demeans you or disappears when you need them. The ache in your chest (or back or knee) that you keep hoping will go away.  These are all signs calling for our attention.

As above, so below. As within, so without. What is going on outside of us is trying to bring our attention to what we must face inside.  What do we not want to deal with?  What are we trying to avoid?  Why are we uncomfortable facing our challenges?  What are we afraid of that we would rather ignore, deny or avoid than see, confront and deal with?

Until we’re willing to see what is causing our blocks, we won’t be able to address the underlying source to fix it.  Thankfully my tea was easy to deal with. I mopped up the mess and in the process cleaned off my desk. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise after all.  However it wasn’t like getting laid off, having an accident or a major health scare which is demanding to be dealt with on a deeper level.

Can you notice how this relates to you?  What might you not want to see that’s looking you right in the face?  Sometimes an unbiased outside perspective can be helpful to bring more clarity and support to deal with your challenges. Want a safe space to look at those things that make you uncomfortable?  Reach out to explore what’s coming up that it may be time to see and heal.  Schedule you Discovery Call here so we can connect.  Looking forward to hearing how you’ve been.