What Type of Container Are You?

It occurred to me today that we are each containers. As we journey through life, each experience is poured into our container.

Sometimes our containers are not full yet. That will make new experiences much more likely to get in. That makes it a lot easier when all is well. But sometimes that is not a good thing. Some substances may be toxic, to our container or the other contents. We need to create filters that can guard what gets in.

Sometimes our containers are full already. The new experience may just immediately overflow and never get in. Or it may at least somewhat replace what we already have. That might be a good thing at times. But at other times it might be quite disruptive. We still need those filters, but we also need to grow our container. Or maybe even empty some out at times to allow additional space.

Its of course more complex than just being full or not, or having a filter. Our containers themselves not only can grow or shrink, but they can also be somewhat flexible. And experiences are not all the same either. Some may be like a gentle pour of water. Others may be more like sand, pebbles, or rocks. The interactions between our containers and those experiences can vary greatly.

Sometimes we even need to completely shield or hide our containers. Some experiences should just not be allowed to come in contact with our containers. Big rocks can be too much for any container. They can break through our filter. They can disrupt our existing content. They may possibly even rupture our container.

The tough part is figuring out your container. It will be different in size and flexibility to those of others. How do you grow it? When do you empty it? You also need to determine what experiences will do to your container. An experience might feel like water to one person, sand to another, and rocks to someone else.