Friday, January 12, 2018

What's In Your Cup?



I had a conversation with a co-worker way, way back my first year as a counselor and it stuck with me all these years. She was sad and it didn’t take long to recognize it. When I asked her how she was doing, she described her husband, a Vietnam veteran as having “issues.” There were times he’d lash out over what she thought were small, almost petty things. There were other times when he’d not respond at all over something when she fully expected a blowup. Unpredictability, I guess, was his hallmark.

She said there were times he’d tense up. Times he’d be sullen and uncommunicative. She never quite knew what to expect from day to day, sometimes from morning to night.

But the part of the conversation I recall that had the biggest impact on me was when she said, “He tries to keep the ooze in a box in the drawer. But sometimes, there is so much ooze, it’s bound to leak out and get messy.”

I think each of us can relate to that statement because either we or someone we know, perhaps someone we work with, even kids, have ooze. And sometimes as neatly wrapped and tucked away as we think it might be, the ooze overflows and gets messy.

I’ve never been a coffee drinker, not even in college. Once upon a time, I drank quite a bit of tea, especially the flavored ones. When Kim and I go out to eat, I generally go with unsweetened tea with lemon. Kind of flavorless, a little bitter.

Since I’ve been on a diet, I’ve increased my water intake. I know it’s good for me, essential really, but there isn’t a whole lot of taste. Still, I make sure I down my required sixty-four ounces or more each day.

If you haven’t noticed, I have to fess up and tell you that I am a Diet Coke-aholic. I know the warnings and cautions associated with the drink, but I like the taste. Yet because of my diet, I’ve actually cut back on my favorite drink. But still . . .

So today, I ask the question: What’s In Your Cup?

I’m not talking about your coffee or tea or water or soda, but rather, metaphorically speaking, What’s In Your Cup?

Think about that for a moment . . .

What is it you are carrying around with you, inside of you that might spill out? What is it that you’re not talking about, not sharing with someone that has the potential of oozing out of the box in the drawer?

A setback of some sort? Some hurt feelings perhaps? A conversation or action that went sideways? Money trouble? A relationship? A recent diagnosis for yourself or a friend or loved one? Loneliness or aloneness?

What’s In Your Cup?

Some unhappiness undefined, unrecognized and unwanted but stuffed in a drawer in your cupboard lurking, waiting for the ill-prepared for wrong-time, only to leak out and ooze onto your shoes in front of everyone else to witness? The mess that might cause someone to comment on the mess we are and try to hide?

Because Whatever is Inside Your Cup is what spills out. Whatever we keep tucked away inside the box in the drawer might leak. Maybe not at this moment, but sometime. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. At the most inopportune time: a meeting, a get together, some function. Perhaps an even worse time: when we are alone and most vulnerable.

What’s In Your Cup?

When life comes along and shakes you, trips you and knocks you down, whatever is inside you will come out. So ask yourself, “What’s In My Cup?” When life gets tough, what spills out?
Will it be joy, peace, compassion, kindness and humility or will it be anger, bitterness, sarcasm and harsh words? Maybe each of us, you and I, need to check now and do some heavy duty cleaning before it oozes out of the box in the drawer. Before it spills out of the cup. Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

I sent the final edited copy of my fifth work of thriller/suspense fiction Caught in a Web to Black Rose Writing. It will drop in April of 2018.  Earlier this week I received a mockup of the cover. Sleek and simple, yet thought provoking.  You can check it out if you travel to my author page at https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author I am working with Black Rose on several publicity campaigns so when the “drop” nears, I’ll keep you posted. There will be an opportunity for preordering Caught in a Web, so when the link becomes available, I’ll make sure you know. Unlike my others, this one will be available in bookstores as well as Amazon.

Good News!
I am actively seeking agent representation for Spiral Into Darkness. It is more of a psychological thriller but with an attitude.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author                                          

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /                                       

If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction and are looking for something to read over the winter, check out my novels:

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis                    

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis                  

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:
Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis                   

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:
A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis

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Thank you for your comment. I welcome your thought. Joe