The Glass is Already Broken

“The glass is already broken” is a maxim repeated often in our house.

It comes from a story of a zen master who had a prized cup, and while he chose to use it and show it to others, he also repeated to himself “the glass is already broken”, that way, when the day came that it did break, he would not be devastated or surprised, because in his mind it was already broken.

Whenever the girls get new toys, or I get something nice, we put this into practice, reminding each other that “the glass is already broken”.

“Fortune falls heavily on those to whom she is unexpected; the man who is always expecting her easily withstands her”-Seneca.

Finn really wanted a Newton’s Cradle pendulum for her reset corner in her room last Christmas.

She declared it would help her relax.

I asked if untangling the strings would also help her relax. She passionately made an argument as to how it wouldn’t get tangled as it would stay in one spot and never move.

“The glass is already broken” I whispered to myself as I placed my order.

It arrived tangled.

And thus began its journey of becoming tangled then untangled and magically moving all over instead of staying in that dedicated spot.

I have only heard Newton’s balls clicking in perpetual motion once.

While doing the deep mom level clean of Finn’s room this week, I found the pendulum under a pile of stuffed animals and socks in the black hole that seems to be the space between her bed and the wall.

I pulled it out and looked at the tangled dangling balls and smiled. The glass is already broken.

Tangled balls is not a big deal, but so often we allow these little things to pile up, to add heat until we go from that simmer to a boil.

I laughed with a woman at Aldi’s today in the “wants vs needs” aisle when I told her don’t buy nice things simply so that I don’t have to work any harder than necessary to not care if they get ruined.

Life’s misfortunes, big and small, become a lot easier when “the glass is already broken.”

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About Becky

Becky Schmooke (pronounced “Smoke”) is a Mindful Leadership Consultant and Speaker, focused on providing action based mindfulness and leadership training to organizations and businesses who are ready to do things differently.

Becky’s Mindful Kitchen, is located outside of Iowa City, and provides truly unique team building and leadership retreats, strategic planning workshops, private parties and classes and weekly summer camps for kids. The commercial teaching kitchen, treehouse, archery range, bush craft skills, first aid training, wood fired pizza oven, chickens, baby goats and timber adventure playground provides endless opportunities for hands on activities.

As a mom to three girls, 60 chickens, 4 goats, 2 dogs and a fire fighter’s wife- life is never boring and provides Becky with endless stories which she uses to illustrate her approach to mindfulness in daily posts on social media.

In all that she does, Becky has one goal, to build confidence in others to take action to live their best life, not just pass time.