I ask him for a cup. He smiles as he hands me a mug. A red mug, at that!

For a moment, for just a few seconds, I pause. I slow down. 

I reflect. A cup, not a mug. I am given something other than what I ask for, what I expect, what I assume is right for me.

In the pause before I react and default to rejecting what I’m offered, I find myself mentally accepting a red mug.

Curious. I thought I knew what I wanted. Yes, and I kinda like the idea of a red mug! 

I smile back. I happily accept.

I am inspired by the words of Michael J. Fox: “My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.”

Do we really know the full extent of what we want?

Do we really know who we are meant to be?

Do we really know what we are meant to achieve?

Yes, and I believe we are given opportunities to challenge what we know. It’s a paradox. We know, and we don’t know. Yes, and….

We have a whole spectrum of choices from which to build our raw belief about ourselves and our world. There is much to learn and achieve, in order to fulfill our deepest wants, needs and potential.

The red mug has come to symbolize for me the expanded choices offered in life, choices I could not possibly anticipate. As my curiousity expands, these choices seem to appear more often and more varied, more thrilling and more bright.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”, said George Bernard Shaw

What is real and what is imagined converge when acceptance, and a tolerance for change, manifests possibilities beyond our imagination. Being fixed on just one way, one perspective, one choice is all too limiting.

I choose a change mindset. I choose to seek progress. I choose to accept a red mug.

• Change
• Mindset

by Lucy Shenouda