SERVING FROM ABUNDANCE
"Finding your way doesn't always mean you know where you're going. It's knowing how to find your way back home that's important." - Clare Vanderpool.
Image Source: Tim Mossholder (Unsplash)
Last week, a friend posed the question, "Is there a definitive list or way to tell when you need to stop what you are doing because it is hurting you more than it is helping anyone else (when you are aiding others)?" My friend wanted to know how you know when it's time to take a self-care break. I replied that I needed to ponder this deep question. Fortunately, I had an acupuncture treatment later that day, so I decided to enlist the unbiased opinion of someone else who serves others.
I posed my friend's question to Liz (my acupuncturist) and received a very enlightened answer. Liz related that the discussion about self-care comes up frequently with other clients. She told me that when you serve others, do so from a place of abundance. However, when you begin to serve with resentment, it's time to refill your empty cup. There is no shame in taking a break to rejuvenate your mind, body, and spirit. Serving others is a great honor and privilege, but alas, we are human beings who have limits and cannot serve others without first serving ourselves a loving spoonful of self-compassion.
We all were born with an Essential Nature filled with love, passion, awe, astonishment, curiosity, enthusiasm, wonder, and so on. These innate qualities are natural feeling tones that emerge without effort on our part. Take a moment to imagine (visualize) how you feel when gazing at the billions of stars in the sky on a clear night. Any sensations that arise bring us closer to our Essential Nature. Now, let's talk about resentment.
Resentment can manifest as a sensation, an emotion, a thought, or a cognition. Take a few moments to visualize a time in your life when you resented a person or a particular circumstance. What sensations or emotions arise with these image(s)? What may emerge is a sharper feeling tone that tells you, 'Something is not right.' Note that this experience pulls you further away from your Essential Nature. Welcome in this resentment and get curious about the message it is sending you. For Liz, it signals a time for rejuvenation.
Image Source: LOGAN WEAVER (Unsplash)
Now welcome in abundance. What does this feel like? Go back and forth between abundance and resentment several times, then welcome them both in at the same time. With practice, you will note that the thinking mind cannot do both. Sensations are the messengers that manifest quietly before emotions, both positive and negative, emerge. When we become separated from our Essential Nature, we feel as if we have wandered from home. The sensations, emotions, and thoughts are pointers that show us the way back to ourselves.
As someone who has spent a lifetime serving others (and continues to do so), I have lost my way home many times. It is part of the human experience. Until recently, I never paid much attention to the messengers that emerged when I served from an empty cup. It will take dedication to learn what makes me tick - a lifetime. When we have these misdirected moments, we realize that each day, we are doing the best we can. After all, we are imperfect beings.
At the end of each yoga class I teach, I will share a quote to seal the practice closed. Last week, I shared the following pearl of wisdom from Martha Postlewaite, which addresses serving from a place of abundance. Let me know in the comments section if her words resonate with you.
"Do not try to save the world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and and you recognize and greet it. Only then, will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue."
For those who resonate with a song versus the written word, I offer you From Now On, performed by Hugh Jackman in the movie The Greatest Showman. Until next time -
Namaste,
Tim
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