By Fabian Boie, M.S.
I recently read a short story full of wisdom. It said that one day, the professor came to class with a glass full with water, in his right hand. He raised the glass and asked his audience:”How heavy is this glass of water?” Amused by their professor and curious, students called out numbers that ranged from 40g to 200g. The professor replied:” It doesn’t really matter. But tell me what will happen if I will hold it in my hand for five minutes?” Now really amused, students all answered “Nothing!” The professor replied:”What if I will hold it for one hour. I will probably feel some ache in my right arm, right?” The students were all paying attention now. Their professor continued: “If I continue to hold it for a day, I will not feel my arm anymore, my whole body will hurt and probably you will have to call an ambulance! But does the real weight of the glass change during all this time?” asked the professor again. This time no answer came from his puzzled students and they were all wondering about the meaning of this unusual lesson.
Reading this story, I started thinking how many small things happen to us every day, which instead of letting them go, we stubbornly continue to carry them on our shoulders, in our hearts, in our minds. Although their “weight” does not change, it often becomes a heavy burden because we choose to carry it for hours, days, months or even many years!
We will always have some problems at work, in our marriage, in our relationships, with our kids, parents, or neighbors. These problems follow the same principle as the glass of water in the story. If you put them down, they will be much easier to solve. If you keep ruminating about them, allow them to occupy your mind and feed them with your attention, they will consume you and eventually paralyze your life.
Instead, learn to let go, to accept it and then you can see those problems as they truly are. Quite often, they are so trivial by comparison to the marvelous blessings in our life. Learn to let go of your problems first and you will discover the opportunity hidden behind them. As the saying goes, “The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.”