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Resource Index | Left Brain | Right Brain | Courses | Site Directory Maintaining a Practice in a Busy Life The following was written from memory by a student, who read it on the bulletin board of her dentist's office. One day in class a prof announced to her students that she was going to present a lesson in time management. She picked up a bucket and filled it with fist-sized stones.
"Is this bucket full?" asked the prof. At this point the prof produced some gravel, and began to add it to the bucket, handful by handful. The smaller gravel pieces fell down around the larger stones, and quite a lot went in before the gravel became visible at the brim of the bucket.
"Is this bucket full?" asked the prof again. The prof then added several spadefuls of sand to the bucket. When the sand had reached the top, she asked "Is it full now?" The students hesitated. Some said "yes" and some "no"....most just waited to see what would come next. Finally the prof poured a pitcher of water into the bucket. By this time, all agreed that the bucket was full. "So, what does this tell you about time management?" asked the prof. One student's hand went up. "It means that no matter how busy you are, you can always squeeze in a little more!" "No," replied the prof, "that's not the lesson here at all. "What I'm trying to demonstrate here is this: think of this bucket as a lifetime. If I had first filled it with the smaller stuff, the larger stones would never have fit in." Is your meditation practice one of the big stones in your life? If your answer is "yes", make time for it first. If you don't, your day will fill up with less important things and your practice will be neglected. Resource Index | Left Brain | Right Brain | Courses | Site Directory
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