I want to tell you this story about a psychology professor who was teaching stress management principles to her students.
And she was walking around on stage and she walked up to her desk and she raised a glass of water that was sitting there.
And everyone was expecting they'd be asked the typical glass half empty or glass half full question.
And instead with a smile on her face the professor asked,
How heavy is this glass of water I'm holding?
The students started to guess and they were shouting out answers from 8 ounces to a couple of pounds.
But then she just smiled and replied,
You know from my perspective the absolute weight of this glass doesn't matter.
It all depends on how long I hold it.
If I hold it for a minute or two it's very light.
If I hold it for an hour straight its weight might make my arm ache a little.
If I hold it for a day straight my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed forcing me to drop the glass to the floor.
In each case the weight of the glass doesn't change but the longer I hold it the heavier it feels to me.
So everyone was shaking their heads in agreement and she said,
Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water.
Think about them for a while and nothing happens.
Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little.
And think about them all day long and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed from them.
This story is a wonderful way of describing the weight we carry on our shoulders every day in our hearts and minds and we ignore them until we become paralyzed by the weight until there's no other option but to face the feelings,
The pain.
But there's always something we can do.
Whenever you feel negative or heavy feelings arise you can always remember that you can make the decision to just simply put the glass down.
You don't have to carry these weights.
They don't serve you anymore.
The sooner you put down the glass the sooner your hand will stop cramping.
The sooner you will be able to feel safe in your body again and the sooner you will be able to use that arm,
Those muscles and that part of you again.
So make the conscious decision today to put down the glass,
To put down those worries and fears and anger and resentment and start using that part of you again.
