Yes.  A Stanley mug. The one that everyone seems to have and every time I see it all I can think of is that one TikTok where the woman's car caught on fire, burnt to a crisp, and she pulled out her Stanley mug and when she shook it, there was still ice in it.  Stanley bought her a new car after it went viral.

I was gifted a Stanley mug from a fund company rep the week after I handed in my notice for working for a financial planner.  Fund companies (this is where your RRSP money goes - into mutual funds managed by individual companies that you and your planner pick based on your risk tolerance) often send treats to the offices as a thank you for doing business with them.  Every woman in our office got a classy cream-coloured mug and it raised the vibration SO much in our office that everyone celebrated a huge win that day individually.  I kept mine at the office and used it often (it really does help you drink more water) but once I left that job and started working from home, I noticed something.

The damn thing kept tipping over and spilling.  Everywhere.  In my bag, in my car, anywhere I left it in the house.  Every time I used it. 

I got so fed up with the thing that I went to go sell it on marketplace and when I was doing that also realized I should be just donating the thing to the thrifting gods when I ALSO realized that there was a part of me that didn't want to have something nice.  Didn't think I deserved something nice.

From a coffee mug.

This is not a new lesson for me. I've gone through it with my vehicle, with my LV wallet, with my laptop, with lovers.  It almost always comes down to finding that teeny tiny part of me that doesn't think I deserve it.  

When really, if I were to sit with it a moment, I would realize that I can have nice things, that they can be of service to me, and that I don't have to get rid of anything that brings me joy.  It's one of my physiological instincts is to get rid of anything that has joy as I feel it's what has value.  

But what I've been focusing on with my nervous system work, with reiki, with journalling, with my mental thoughts, is that *I* am the inherent value.  Of course nice things would find me! I would want everyone to have a Stanley mug if that's what they wanted.  Who am I to deny myself something as simple as a nice mug that helps me drink water?  Pretty sure the Universe isn't making the mug such a problem because I don't deserve it.  

Ever since I had that realization and approached it with the curiosity of "huh. hot damn. that's a silly goose thought", that damn mug hasn't tipped over once.  Problemo solved. 

It's these small things sometimes that are happening in our external environment that are trying to draw our attention to something inside of us. The Universe/God/Spirit/Creator/Life is constantly communicating with us to direct us to think of it ourselves.  We're living in one big metaphor.  Having these realizations don't have to be a big deal.  They don't have to be something derails us.  Sometimes it's just the habit of noticing what silly gooses' we can internally be sometimes and then decide to do something different.  ALLOW something different.

I want you to know that what's happening around you isn't because you're a bad person or because you're failing or because you're not good enough.  I want you to know that this is all happening for our highest good.  It's bringing you somewhere beautiful.  I absolutely, unequivocally, ardently KNOW it.  

I encourage you today to ask yourself what your Stanley mug is. It probably popped into your head while reading this post.  What's something that's been giving you a bit of a hassle in life and can you see it as a part of yourself not feeling like you deserve it maybe? Call that thought a Silly Goose and send it on it's way.

Always,

Megan