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• Cindy Lewis, MSN, RN

A popular Zen story tells of a university professor who went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor’s cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. “It’s overfull! No more will go in!” the professor blurted. “You are like this cup,” the master replied, “How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”¹

What was the Zen master teaching? Perhaps he was illustrating that we may think we are full of knowledge, but we should always be open to the fact that there is still more to learn. Just as the cup accepted no more tea, the closed mind accepts no more learning. Being open to input, course correction, new ways of thinking, and new experiences can be challenging and sometimes even a bit scary. However, those who seek learning, mentoring, and new experiences tend to grow both personally and professionally.

As nurses, we are accustomed to being challenged every day. Whether our learning involves new equipment, new regulations, or new practices, we are committed to being open to new experiences. Health care is constantly changing. Yet the demands for all of us to improve efficiency and patient outcomes remain constant. No doubt many of you are faced with work-related challenges and learning opportunities. Many of you are incorporating evidence-based practice and research into your nursing interventions. We need to support one another by sharing our experiences and outcomes.

Our Journal provides each of you the opportunity to share your knowledge and learning. The Editorial Board and I are available to help mentor you through the writing process. Whether you have an idea or need help developing your idea, format, or guidelines, we can help you through the process to generate a publishable manuscript.

Ask yourselves the following questions. How open are you to learning opportunities? And do you desire to contribute to our profession? Writing for publication advances our profession through sharing stories, new perspectives, care practices, outcomes, and research. For all of us, the first and most important factor in deriving learning from every opportunity is to know what you want and to have your goals clearly defined.

I challenge each of you to set the goal for yourself to “Write for Publication.” We can help you through this journey. We will help you to see where you have the space in your “teacup” to let in more learning! I look forward to hearing from all of you!

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Reference 

1. Reps  , Paul  , Senzaki  , Nyogen  . Zen flesh and Zen bones . In: Boston (MA): Tuttle Publishing; 1998;p. 19
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