Cleaning Your Mind Bowl

You can think of your mind as like a bowl. Consider if you had only this one bowl in your kitchen cabinet with which to eat - to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert - one bowl for everything. It would be essential to clean this bowl out after each meal, otherwise it would become sticky, caked over in residue, and would likely begin to stink. By not cleaning out the bowl, it would make it impossible to experience and enjoy each new meal on its own, and, over time, there may even be no room for new food at all.

To me, this analogy illustrates the importance of a “spiritual practice,” which I think of as like a regular washing and cleaning of the one bowl you have (your mind) to be able to eat (to consciously experience the world). This sort of practice could look innumerable different ways, whatever it might be for you (e.g., a daily meditation practice, going for a walk with no technology, prayer, simply taking a deep breath, etc.). The Gestalt psychotherapist Fritz Perls described psychological health as the ability to see and experience “what is new as new,” which to me is like having a clean bowl/mind (versus one that is caked over with past experiences, expectations, and assumptions). It can be liberating to just let go of the way you see the world, if only for a moment, and open up to something totally new that is happening only right now - to eat this fresh meal that has been prepared for you. One of my favorite stories from the Zen world drives the message home:

• EMPTYING YOUR CUP:
  Nan-in, a Zen master, received a university professor who came to learn about Zen. 
  Nan-in served tea. 
  As Nan-in prepared the tea, the professor began sharing his own thoughts and speculations about Zen.
  Nan-in remained silent and brought the tea to pour into the professor's cup.
  Nan-in poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. 
  The water spilled over onto the table and onto the floor.
  The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. 'It is overflowing. No more will go in!' 
  ‘Like this cup,' Nan-in said, ‘You are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’
  -from Zen Flesh Zen Bones

***NOTE: I don’t think you can ever actually have a totally “empty cup” as long as you live and breathe and function in the world. But just the practice of regular emptying is what may allow for a daily fresh, new, and more fully alive experience of the world, of those you interact with, and of yourself.***

How do you regularly clean out your mind bowl to be able to experience what is new as new?