full or empty vessel?
“We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.” Lao Tzu
We all know the glass half full or half empty question about how we perceive life, but have you ever considered it from the perspective of the Lao Tzu quote?
How much time do we spend on our appearances, either physically or metaphorically, concentrating only on the apparent shape and appearance of what we are presenting to the world without thinking about the space that we are creating internally.
Lao Tzu has an excellent point to make. You can make the most exquisitely beautiful pot, but it does not mean that is any more capable of carrying life’s ups and downs than the plain-looking pot.
Have you heard the expression “that person is full of themselves”? The person whose pot is full of themselves has no room for others. The person who works to make sure that their pot has plenty of empty room is able to carry others with them.
What are you molding with the clay of your life? and what are you filling your pot with… yourself… or some emptiness to help carry other things?
image by Karpov