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Dropping a glass can be a meditation bell calling you to attention, breaking on impact, shattering our awareness, snapping us to reality. Our intention to place the glass safely lost. We lament what went wrong, judging ourselves and others in the aftermath. Glass, a metaphor for relationships, work, management, or living, shatters when we take our attention away, leaving our body to complete the tasks assigned. Muscle memory, don’t fail me now.
“Everyone makes mistakes.” is a timeless excuse for the moment. Often followed by, “Just don’t let it happen again.” But what did happen? What mistake did I make? I intended to place the glass safely. Something happened along the way, and an accident occurred. I can’t recall what it was. And now, I am told not to let it happen again. What happened, so I don’t do it again?
Was it the surface, was there water on the glass, could I have caught it, was it too close to the edge? Did I even see it happen? I can’t recall, but I know not to do that again once I figure it out.
Typically, it’s one of these or none of these. But the root cause is always attention and awareness. We train our minds for tasks, such as placing a glass on surfaces. We rarely train our minds to see the intention through to completion. We allow our attention to wander and our muscle memory to act even when conditions are new or have changed. Our minds…
