As I continue to find time to reflect during this Lenten season, I’m reminded of the “Empty Boat Story or Parable.”

 

If you have never heard of it or if you have, then here’s a refresher.

 

I’ve provided different versions to discern so you can read them later or share them with others.

 

“The Empty Boat story is a Buddhist or Taoist parable. In the Buddhist version, a monk gets in a boat to find a quiet place to meditate. After failing to find a quiet enough spot, he decides to go out onto the lake. No one else was around so he was sure he would finally be able to have some peace and quiet to meditate. Then, out of nowhere, he feels something hit his boat. In the Taoist version, a man’s riding his boat in a river. Suddenly another boat strikes his own–but there’s nobody in the other boat. It’s an Empty Boat.”

 

The Empty Boat: Finding Peace in Solitude – Indrosphere (indroyc.com)

How The Empty Boat Parable Can Help Control Your Anger – The Wisdom Daily

The Empty Boat Parable is my powerful reminder that life is too short to complain, and many times it’s our fault as we chart our course through life.

 

Sometimes, we must also recognize the environment we’re placed in and seek change in our lives.

 

The bottom line is that we must accept what we are facing.

 

Let me ask you this question:  What’s your call to action preventing you from doing your best daily?

 

Did I do my best to avoid the empty boats in my life?

 

I’m sure each of us has our own personal Mantra’s that we live by in navigating the waters of life.

 

AIWATT and the Empty Boat (porchlightbooks.com)

 

As an avid reader of books, Marshall Goldsmith also highlights the importance of empty boats in his book entitled “Triggers.”

 

“We behave more calmly when we learn that it’s an empty boat. With no available scapegoat, we can’t get upset. We make peace with the fact that our misfortune was the result of fate or bad luck. We may even laugh at the absurdity of a random unmanned boat finding a way to collide with us in a vast body of water.

 

The moral: There’s never anyone in the other boat. We are always screaming at an empty vessel. An empty boat isn’t targeting us. And neither are all the people creating the sour notes in the soundtrack of our day.”

 

This week, I’m focusing on empty boats that are keeping me from becoming a better person on my path as I strengthen my emotional intelligence.

 

I’ve witnessed various people in and out of the  workforce, and Peter Druckers’s quote say’s it best: “So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.”

 

In my humble opinion, those empty boats continue to get in our way.

 

Today, let’s all figure out how to stay clear of those empty-boat thoughts that prevent us from doing our best each day!

 

For those on Spring Break, Enjoy it!