Don’t worry too much about your cup.
I’m sure most of you have heard the saying, “You cannot pour from an empty cup”. Basically what it means is that you must take care of yourself before you can take care of others. While that’s mostly true, there’s a huge problem with that belief. What if your cup is empty?
Many would interpret that to mean you cannot give anymore, so now you must love yourself to fill your own cup in order to give again. Here’s the thing, you cannot always love yourself. It’s unrealistic to expect someone to always find the capacity for love in life especially if life has taken everything from them and then some. There are lives so bereft of anything good that it would be impossible to ask any sort of love from them, whether it’s to themselves or otherwise.
This is why I don’t think that loving is necessarily the answer here. I think you can always give even with an empty cup and no love. The difference is that you can’t give anything physically if your cup is empty, but you can still give emotionally. You don’t have to love anything in order to give emotionally. You just simply give of yourself to it, whatever it may be.
I don’t always love my responsibilities in life, especially when I’m struggling with very little in a situation constantly taking from me, but I show up and give to them anyways and that eventually teaches me how to love again. If your cup is full, obviously that’s great because then you can give physically and emotionally.
Now on the other hand you can always take too. If you take physically you can use others to fill your cup which is great as long as you can give back in a mutual agreement. Quid pro quo isn’t a bad thing. However, it’s only accepted because you’re also giving emotionally in that case. That’s why you fulfill your end of the deal even when you don’t have to.
So what if you take emotionally? Not only do you not care enough to give back, but this is where all of humanity’s problems come into play. If you take emotionally, it does not matter how much your cup may or may not fill because it’s bottomless. Nothing will ever be enough. Anything bad in your entire life is the result of taking emotionally.
So in closing, physical circumstances depend on whether or not your cup is full, but emotional ones depend on nothing other than your character. You can always give and you always take no matter what the situation with your cup is. It really is that simple. You give or you take emotionally, and whichever you choose determines if you’re positive or negative in life.
You get what you give. This is true, but what many don’t realize about that quote is giving doesn’t require you to have anything or even appreciate anything because you’re inherently valuable as you are no matter how you are. Anyone else who gives enough will also see that.
Many would interpret that to mean you cannot give anymore, so now you must love yourself to fill your own cup in order to give again. Here’s the thing, you cannot always love yourself. It’s unrealistic to expect someone to always find the capacity for love in life especially if life has taken everything from them and then some. There are lives so bereft of anything good that it would be impossible to ask any sort of love from them, whether it’s to themselves or otherwise.
This is why I don’t think that loving is necessarily the answer here. I think you can always give even with an empty cup and no love. The difference is that you can’t give anything physically if your cup is empty, but you can still give emotionally. You don’t have to love anything in order to give emotionally. You just simply give of yourself to it, whatever it may be.
I don’t always love my responsibilities in life, especially when I’m struggling with very little in a situation constantly taking from me, but I show up and give to them anyways and that eventually teaches me how to love again. If your cup is full, obviously that’s great because then you can give physically and emotionally.
Now on the other hand you can always take too. If you take physically you can use others to fill your cup which is great as long as you can give back in a mutual agreement. Quid pro quo isn’t a bad thing. However, it’s only accepted because you’re also giving emotionally in that case. That’s why you fulfill your end of the deal even when you don’t have to.
So what if you take emotionally? Not only do you not care enough to give back, but this is where all of humanity’s problems come into play. If you take emotionally, it does not matter how much your cup may or may not fill because it’s bottomless. Nothing will ever be enough. Anything bad in your entire life is the result of taking emotionally.
So in closing, physical circumstances depend on whether or not your cup is full, but emotional ones depend on nothing other than your character. You can always give and you always take no matter what the situation with your cup is. It really is that simple. You give or you take emotionally, and whichever you choose determines if you’re positive or negative in life.
You get what you give. This is true, but what many don’t realize about that quote is giving doesn’t require you to have anything or even appreciate anything because you’re inherently valuable as you are no matter how you are. Anyone else who gives enough will also see that.
