life through a straw

I drink my tea with a straw...it's the South American mate tea that is most delicious first thing in the morning...best to drink it in a authentic gourd with a mate straw.  Which brings me to my lightbulb moment... my warm tea this cold cold morning was much desired...yet it just wasn't flowing through the straw.  Try as I might I would only get little bits of liquid through it.  Somewhere in it's simple system it is plugged with tea leaves.  This happens.  But I forget to clean it thoroughly everyday.  I give it a once over... making sure the outside is clean and shiny.  After several frustrating attempts at sipping and having no success with a good helping of tea I stopped.  Enough of that straw!
Then I reached into the drawer and pulled out my back up straw.  The one I had forgotten about but found the other day when I was looking for something else.  I put it in the gourd and Voila!! tea.... oodles and zoodle of smooth flowing delicous and nutrious  tea.
Why fight with a plugged straw?!  It's frustrating and senseless.  Life gets plugged sometimes...oftentimes.  Plugged with the build up of people, thoughts, events, stuff, activities, the past, the future, what was done, what we wish hadn't been done.  Just plugged!  If I don't clean out the straw of my life regularly...not just a shiny polish but a real clearing I too will plug the flow of my life.
I don't want that to happen because then I'll miss the delicious flavours of the moment which collectively are my life.  Sometimes a good clearing may mean switching out straws entirely...so be it.  I want life to be smooth flowing and unplugged.
It's not complicated.  Just be clear...be clean not just shiny.  Make sure your insides are uncluttered so life can flow with greater ease.  Write it out, speak it out, pray it out....however you clean just make sure you do it regularly, thoroughly and deeply.  Don't wait for a blockage as it may come in your heart, your mind, your job, your money, your relationship. 
Today I ask myself to be clear of built up emotions so I can be free and clear to be fully present.  Present with myself so I can be present with others.  Unhurried, uncluttered and understanding.