What does empty your cup actually mean?
In many contexts i.e. Learning a new skill, meeting a new person, we often loosely use the phrase: “empty your cup.”
Have you ever wondered what are we emptying?
One of the foundations of our being is beliefs and it would be safe to assume one of the things that we are empting is beliefs.
But let’s first explore, how are these belief filled in the cup?
How Are Beliefs Formed?
As we grow up, a major part of our life is filled with learning. Learning to read and write, how to eat, how to talk and react, how to behave…
This learning process is a wondrous journey that can be magical or otherwise at times.
A toddler toddles around the house and is filled with wonderful curiosity about everything he or she encounters. A colourful cushion, a sonorous utensil, a juicy fruit to be squashed in the tiny palm, a socket with so many tiny holes in which all the tiny fingers can fit into …
While all other endeavours are clapped at or heads adoringly shaken over, the socket-finger-fitting project for example is shrieked over. This tiny being who adores the parent is suddenly shocked when the indulgent adult suddenly rushes over screaming.
So does a tiny inner child develop where the lip crumbles and pouts, and the trauma leaks through the eyes?
What happens with these experiences?
The numerous incidents are processed according to the perceptions of the child every day, and they get cemented into belief and behaviour patterns as the child grows. By the age of 14yrs, the mental make up of an individual is done.
Over the years the beliefs grow stronger as the mind is programmed by the emotions to remember what supports the belief, and to forget what is unsupported.
What is the Impact?
An empowering belief can take us to heights of success in life.
A disempowering belief can stop us from achieving our desired dreams and visions. We can only understand the extent of the restrictions we place on ourselves when we actually ‘see’ the belief and how it shapes our ‘destiny’.
What can we as individuals do?
Simply, empty the cup.
Success comes through when the origin or the seed of the belief is identified, and worked through to break free. In other words, a major part of success could be unlearning what we may have spent years learning, then learning what would take us in the right direction.
If you already know which belief you want to take care of then simply follow these steps:
- Write it down, make a list of similar beliefs
- Write down how does it impact your life (overall)
- What would happen when you let go of this belief
- Find out when did you violated this belief (knowingly or un knowingly)