What do glasses and your past have in common?

I heard a story once that stuck with ever since. The story was originally told by a psychology professor to a group of his students.

He said to them. Imagine you are holding a glass of water and let us say it is three quarters full. This is not about it being half full or half empty, although, notice I started with it being three quarters full – always the optimist.

So you are holding the glass…How heavy is the glass? You may say 40oz or 100ml….

If you hold it for a minute, it will not feel heavy at all will it?

Hold it for an hour?  You will notice an ache.

A day? A month? A lifetime? How heavy would it feel then?  Unbearable right? 

Now the weight of the glass does not change, but the amount of time we hold it for will affect how we feel.

So, what are you holding onto from your past that is making you feel heavy?

What are you carrying into your future that is holding you back?

If we continue to drag our negative past with us into the future, all we will do is stop ourselves from moving forward.

So ,it is time to  put down the glass!  

I am not saying that we have not had things in our past that have affected us, of course we have. However, if we carry them with us then they come  with us into our next job, our next relationship our ability to dream, to set goals,  make choices and ultimately to feel fulfilled.

So, what DO we want to bring into our future from our past? Just one thing, the lessons we have learned.

Leave the rest behind – it is no longer serving you.