The tale of the Filter and the Sponge

This is the story of the Filter and the Sponge (inspired by Joe Nunziata). This is also posted on my coaching blog.
There once was a little filter who breezed through life. She was happy and open to all sorts of experiences. She had a little friend, the Sponge. The Sponge loved life. She wanted to soak it up. In fact, she loved life so much that she wanted to soak it ALL up and never let anything go.
The filter and the sponge decided to go out together one day. It was going to be a grand adventure...new people to meet, things to see, and things to experience.
As soon as the filter and the sponge arrived at their first fabulous stop, they came across a very sour lemon. The filter said "Ah, I love the smell of lemon. It is so clean and fresh and makes me feel so happy." So the filter took in all that she loved about the lemon.
The sponge said "Ah, I too love the smell of lemon. I also love its color. Let me just soak it all up." And she did.
They moved onto their next great adventure. But the sponge wasn't feeling too good. She has taken in the great parts of the lemon but also the little seeds. And the stringy stuff between the sections, and to be honest, this lemon was particularly sour.
She asked the filter how she was feeling. The filter was Great! as she went up to a cotton candy stand.
Ah, cotton candy, thought the sponge. That will help balance the sour.
She took in all she could while the filter smelled the sweetness and enjoyed the light spun pink.
Very quickly, the sponge realized that it wasn't going to help at all. In fact, she felt even worse now. She felt too bad to even say anything to the filter.
They then came upon the perfect treat. Fresh strawberries lightly dipped in the most heavenly of chocolates. The filter took it all in. All the perfection.
The sponge...well, while this was everything that she had wanted, she couldn't take anything else in. She was too full of all the things she didn't want.
The filter, when noticing that the sponge wasn't enjoying the strawberries said, My Friend, you love strawberries. Why don't you have some?
The sponge said "I have no room. I am full of lemon smell and rind and tartness and yellow and pink and sugar and..."
Filter said "Oh dear, why didn't you take just what you wanted? Why did you take everything, even the stuff you didn't love?"
The sponge, with her little sponge head hanging low, said "It is my nature to soak up everything. I didn't know that I could choice what I wanted and leave what I didn't.
The filter said "It is always your choice, my friend. You should fill yourself, but only with what you love."
Sponge said, "Thank you. Now I know and I will only soak up what I love. The rest I will let go. And when I become too full, I will release that which I no longer love so that I may experience wonderful new things as they come along."
Filter responded, "It is a very wonderful life, Sponge."