lbb

I like the point about questioning whether you really do know "the advice you already know". Maybe this reaction comes from a feeling that "I'm full up right now". The metaphor of the full cup of tea is often used in martial arts to try and teach the lesson that we need to let go of what we know to learn new things, but I think we need to remember that emptying the cup isn't that simple. Sometimes your cup is full because you keep hanging on to things; sometimes it's full because you're overwhelmed (by information, by circumstances, whatever). If you present an overwhelmed person with something very simple ("We're ordering pizza, what do you want on it?"), they may not be able to give you an answer. Being overwhelmed does that to you. An overwhelmed person can't just empty their cup as a simple act of will: they need to process what's in it first. If you try to give more information to an overwhelmed person, no matter how relevant, no matter how helpful the spirit in which it is given, it won't be helpful.