Recently I got a new electric kettle. I drink a lot of hot tea. That means I use my kettle multiple times a day. What I find funny about this new one that I bought is that the water pours out slower than my old one. I keep trying to make the water come out faster by tipping it higher and this just makes the water spill out the sides as well as out of the spout. That’s not what I want, but I keep trying to make it pour faster anyway and making a mess at the same time.
I know that eventually I’ll get used to this new kettle and I’ll adjust to how it pours. But, I see a bit of a lesson in this for me as well. This is really a simple task and it doesn’t matter if it takes 2 seconds or 5 seconds to pour the hot water. Either way I get hot water for my tea. So, the real question then is why am I being so impatient and expecting the hot water to instantly fill my cup?
I like to think of myself as a patient person in many way. Of course, I have my moments. My son would agree in this and he has been known to tell me to be a little more patient. Obviously I have room for growth here. What has happened is my new kettle has brought this to my attention again. I laugh every time I try to make that water pour out faster. Sometimes I’m a slow learner.
When life points something out to you, it’s a good idea to check in and figure out what it’s trying to tell you. For me, there are some areas of my life that aren’t progressing at a pace that I would like. Instead of being frustrated at the pace that they are taking, maybe a little bit more patience on my part would smooth my path and make it easier in the long run. With my kettle when I only tilt it a bit to pour the water, it comes out nice and smooth. It’s slower than I want, but it’s easy to control and doesn’t make a mess on my counter.
Is that what my kettle is trying to teach me? Maybe I need to take the slow path in those areas that are frustrating me? If I slow down, then I can take a deeper look at what is working and not working. I can make the changes that I need to make and then observe what happens. A little patience can go so far. Instead of forcing something to happen right away, maybe I need to give it a little time to develop naturally.
It strikes me that some of the skills and lessons that I’ve learned through yoga therapy are showing up in other parts of my life. I’ve learned to examine something and then to think about what it’s trying to tell me. What is the lesson that I can learn? How can I apply what I learn to my life? Even if it’s a small ‘aha’, it’s still helpful to me so that I can make changes that make my life better.
When I picked out my new kettle at the store, I judged it on price and color. I was pretty sure that it would heat my water, but I had no idea it would tell me to be a little more patient in my life. Who knew that an electric kettle could do so much?
What lessons are you learning right now? I’d love to hear about them. Leave me a comment below.
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Oh, I love this one, Becky! Who knew a kettle could teach such a valuable lesson?!
The lessons I am learning right now seem to be about control. Everything that is frustrating me in my life right now seems to be all about control. I am trying to control things that are beyond my control, such as the actions of other people, and even the weather, lol. I think irrational thoughts, such as, If I watch the weather channel often enough and concentrate hard enough, and pray hard enough, I can make a hurricane change it’s path, lol. And I think that if I can find right just the right argument, and argue my point convincingly enough, and/or if I use just a little bit of bullying (which is SOOO not my personality!), I can convince someone to do what I think is best for them. And what makes me think I know definitively what is best for anybody else, anyway?
Shame is another emotion that keeps popping up. There is a lesson to be learned from that, too, I am sure. I sometimes feel that life is trying to teach me to stop trying to control everyone else, and to let myself be who I am, and stop worrying about what anyone else thinks – to do what feels right for me. Sounds so simple when I say it, but oh, so much harder to actually do!