Brianland

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The Spilled Coffee Test . . . 

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How to know if you’re happy and centered . . .

Something I’ve being using for decades . . . 

Very simple — 

If I ding (or worse) my coffee cup (or whatever) and cause a spill on the table (or wherever) my split-second reaction is an infallible indicator of my state of mind and life.

This also applies to any other accident from your car to stubbing your toe to any kind of mishap one experiences in life.

There’s three types of instant reaction:

1) You laugh at the absurdity of it, the silliness, the test of it.  If your life is going well, if you’ve got all of your shit together, “spilled coffee” makes you laugh at yourself and circumstance.

2) You’re not bothered — it’s just something that happens and you clean up the mess unaffected one way or the other.

3) You yell a curse word in anger, maybe throw or kick something, or lash out at in anger.

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Someone might ask you, or you might ask yourself, if you’re happy (centered, grounded, in control, in love with your life, as ol’ JK would say) and you can give any kind of answer to that: what you think they want to hear, what you want to tell yourself.

But in that unexpected moment where you have a mishap / accident — and before you have time to think about it — that’s your real true reaction, the real true measurement of your mental well-being.  You don’t have time in that split second to remember what some self-help guru or religion or philosophy taught you.  In that split-second you either (basically) laugh or curse.

I monitor like a hawk this reaction in myself.  The majority of one’s reactions are probably in the middle — you just take it in stride, neither too upset nor laugh, but simply clean it up and keep moving forward.

BUT — when I curse I know something is really wrong in my soul —in my approach — in the equilibrium in my life.  You can’t b.s. this reaction.  In regular life moments you can come up with all sorts of rationalizations and explanations convincing yourself you’re happy — but if you catch yourself cursing at life’s minor misfortunes you really need to get off the field and sit on the bench until you’ve got yourself back to that happy centered place.

When I let out a little (or big) laugh at the misfortune / accident — I know I’m in The Zone.

And when “in the zone” it’s a time to go furthur — push yourself — go that other place — take chances — swing for the fences.  It’s a real-life occurrence you can observe in sports — when an athlete gets on an inexplicable hot streak and everything he or she does works for a period of time.  It can also be the case with an artist in any medium — when they’re channeling the Spirits and can almost do no wrong creatively.  Bob Dylan said he doesn’t know the person who wrote those songs circa 1964–66.  There are times when all the mental / spiritual / physical forces are lined up and the flow is pure and uninterrupted.  Ideally, that’s where one strives to live all the time — and when I find myself laughing at spilled coffee (or any other misfortune) I know I’m in that zone.

Conversely, when I get angry at a slight slip, and metaphorically, or worse, literally, throw the coffee mug across the room — I know it’s time for a “time out.”  This little moment is the Spirits’ way of showing you you’re off your game.  Getting back on your game is the subject of countless books and philosophies and prolly religions, too, and every person has to find their own way.  But “spilled coffee” is God or nature’s way of sticking a thermometer into your life and taking your mental health temperature.  And I pay close attention to the results of every such test.

And P.S. —

This is not to be confused with “don’t cry over spilled milk” which is a lesson about not worrying about something (small) that happened in the past.  That’s also a lesson to learn and internalize.  What I’m talking about here is a thermometer.  An instantaneous measurement of mindset that you can’t fake because it happens naturally and without planning.

And it tells you the truth about YOU.  😉 

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Here’s something along these lines — Everyday Is A Gift

Or you can simply Be The Invincible Spirit You Are

Or here’s a nice one — Love Is

Or here’s an uplifting tale of the Dalai Lama in Central Park

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by Brian Hassett  —  karmacoupon@gmail.com   —  BrianHassett.com

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