Five Visualization Images for Quiet Reflections
Use water to create abundance in your life.
The overflowing cup is a powerful mental image I have been returning to for many years. The first was just a cup filled with clear water. Over the years, I’ve since collected more variations.
These images continue to be both versatile and meaningful during times of quiet reflections.
May you also find them useful.
One: Abundance
On mornings before my day starts, when I’m still half asleep, or later during the day, when I’m fully awake but feeling tired, the image of a cup overflowing with water energizes me.¹
Imagine a cup with clear water. Look inside. The inner walls of the cup touches the edge of the water. Observe the surface of the water rise up. It goes up until it reaches the brim. There’s so much water now that the cup barely holds it. The shape of the water swells. It starts to extend beyond its flat surface. Droplets cross the brim one moment and then gushes outwards falling down. Streams come out of the cup. For a long time, there is enough.
Two: Adaptation
When I find myself in a daunting new place, thinking about the mutable-ness of water eases me up to adjust to any situation.²
I am water. I take the shape of the cups I pour into. Transparent wine glass, hard chalice, wooden mugs, or ceramics — water takes their shapes. These cups are the people I meet. Beloved, family, friends, strangers and enemies, I find my place among them. No bottleneck stops me. I permeate all crevices and junctions. My presence illuminates all those around me.
Three: Antecedence
I remind myself to do the first thing first, and that is to heal up. The first thing to do each day is to fill my cup first. I pour so much that others can’t help but benefit from the overflow. Serving myself first allows me to serve others.³
From my cup flow out immense water enough to fill oceans. That same water is the raindrops from the sky, clean water from rivers, nourishment in the womb and blood in my body. Water can be all these things. Water tough as ice or light as air. It can be all these things. But first, it comes from me.
Four: Acceptance
When I’m talking to a friend or learning from a teacher, I make sure I’m listening. And I mean receiving a full understanding of what they are saying. To listen, I imagine emptying my cup, to let them pour into me.
Once there was a wise man who went to learn from a popular master. After the lesson, the two were having tea. When the master quietly served tea, the man talked about the lesson. The master poured the man’s cup to the brim and didn’t stop. The man saw that tea was overflowing and yelled “Stop! You can’t pour anymore!” The master replied, “This is you. Unless you empty your cup first, I won’t be able to teach you.” ⁴
Five: Adoration
For the times a loved one desire to do something I don’t approve of, I remind myself that to love another person is to let them know it’s okay to go. Allow them to do their heart’s wishes. Let them renew themselves.
For myself: My cup is filled and I have enough. The world takes back its promises. Not me. When my cup is overflowing, I pour to others’. I nourish them, to grow and not drain each other up.
For myself and my beloved: How do I stop a water droplet from drying up? I let it flow back to the ocean.⁵
Abundance. Adaptation. Antecedence. Acceptance. Adoration.
The overflowing cup.
Footnotes:
[1] Where I got this image is lost to memory. For sure I didn’t create this on my own.
[2] For people who are into the zodiac signs, being adaptable is a Pisces energy. On a side note: the zodiac signs are accurate describing my personality. I won’t be surprised if other people discover the same applies to their personalities. However, I don’t think horoscope predictions are to be taken seriously. Not even a bit.
[3] When I was in my early twenties, a story my uncle told us stuck with me. He said that you should save yourself first, before saving others. He added that that’s what you do on an airplane — before you can help anyone wear their oxygen mask, you need to wear your own first. Two reasons made his story memorable: 1. I haven’t been in an airplane at that time, and 2. My uncle shares helpful quotes from the Bible. He concluded his visit to us with a prayer.
[4] This is from a popular Zen story.
[5] This is from the 2001 film, Samsara, directed by Pan Nalin.
