Duck Soup For The Soul

  The Empty Boat Mindset There’s a short Zen story that goes like this: A man is crossing a river when another boat crashes into his. He immediately gets angry—until he realizes the other boat is empty. No one to blame. No one to shout at. Suddenly, his anger disappears. That moment right there? That’s the Empty Boat Mindset. Most of our stress, resentment, and emotional exhaustion doesn’t come from what happens —it comes from the story we attach to it. We assume intent. We assume disrespect. We assume someone meant to hurt, ignore, or block us. And just like that, our peace sinks. The Empty Boat Mindset asks a simple but powerful question: “What if this wasn’t personal?” What if the rude comment wasn’t about you, but about their bad day? What if the silence wasn’t rejection, but overwhelm? What if the delay wasn’t disrespect, but chaos on the other side you can’t see? When you treat every collision like it came from an empty boat, something shifts. You stop bleeding ene...