“Today I make space for miracles. I recognize that it’s not how big a miracle is that’s important, but how much room I create for it” – Kyle Gray A couple weeks ago I read a story about a scholar who traveled seeking a great Zen master to help him find peace and mindfulness. He wanted to learn the way to enlightenment, life’s great secret to live by. Upon arriving, the scholar was overwhelmed with his own thoughts, stories, and so many questions that the Zen master asked him to first sit down and have some tea. The Zen master began pouring the tea until the cup was overflowing, the tea spilled on to the table, the floor and finally onto the scholars clothes. The scholar yelled, “Stop! Don’t you see that the cup is already full.” The Zen master replied with a smile, “Exactly, just like your mind – so full of ideas nothing more will fit in it. Come back when you have an empty cup of tea.” It is hard to think back about spending a full year in jail. From New Year to End Year without even looking at the outside. I started my journey thinking that within a couple of months I would have some clarity, and would be moving to the next stage, it is now 2025 and I am still here. Last year was a roller- coaster of emotions, especially the last two months, a true mental, emotional and physical prison. I learned that trying to do the right thing is not as easy as it sounds, we see things one way, our actions speak another way and then people interpret them their own way. I constantly obsess over what people, specially my loved ones, are thinking, what they are doing, what they could be doing or what they are going to do, when half the time nothing is even going on, the world is exactly the same as when I last saw it, except I am temporarily not in it. The teacup story made me reflect upon my own thoughts. In jail, like in life, it’s easy to be influenced by them. We spend twenty-four hours a day thinking. You are even now thinking about what I just said.
The worst part is, that it is easy to take on other peoples perspectives when we think about our problems. Like the scholar it is easy to let our mind be overflowing with thoughts, most of them negative, about what is really not happening both inside and on the outside. I wanted to write this article about creating space for thinking. I want to start the new year on an empty canvas that we can hopefully look back in twelve-months and see the beautiful masterpiece we have created. I hope that as
you read this you can also think, or rather stop thinking, and create space for new thoughts, new perspectives and learn that today we have the opportunity to start over. The author Joseph Nguyen wrote, “It is ironic how much can be written about nothing. That is what space is: nothing.” Nothing means starting from the beginning. Starting from zero. Starting from day one. The same is true for our minds, if we want to create new thoughts that can influence and change our life we need to start on an empty cup of tea. Let go of our fears, angers, regrets and thoughts in general. Allow our new attitude, based on positive values, goals and aspirations, to begin creating new
ideas, new thoughts and positive change. Know that we don’t need to understand everything, we do not need to solve every situation that comes into our mind, we do not need to allow our thoughts, driven by negativity, to take over our life. Even in jail, by creating space for positive thinking, we can live
peacefully, love others, nurture long lasting relationships and cause an influence in the lives of others. Remember that every great idea or discovery made, within our lifetime, was made by someone who started with enough space in their mind to think. In jail, and in life, we are only ever one thought and idea away from changing our lives completely.