The Empty Cup
I was speaking to one of my apprentices today and I explained to him one of the policies my church has. In order to serve in any capacity at church it is a requirement that you sit in at least one service without a duty to perform. We call that policy “soak and serve”. It speaks to a fundamental truth. We cannot be givers and servers all the time. We need to somehow find something, some time to fill up our cup. If we do not, the end result is disallusionment.
I have found that much of our dis-ease with the Temple, or with work, or with life in general, is that we are doing too much in the service of others and not enough in the service of ourselves. “I don’t have time” is a common excuse, and one I used quite frequently. No one ever has time. We make time for the things we value, but being as there are only 24 hours in a day, some things, necessarily have to take a back seat.
Call me selfish if you like, but from experience I have learned that no one will value you as much as you do, so we cannot expect others to fill our cup. We may consider those times in which they do happy surprises rather than routine expectations. The truth is that your cup will more often be empty or near so without constant attention to things that fill it. Make filling your cup a daily habit.
These are some of the things I have found useful:
Reading a book for instruction
Reading a book for learning
Taking online classes
Browsing youtube
Talking with my co-workers off the clock
Cooking things I enjoy
Going to the gym/not going to the gym
Speaking with my therapist
Talking with other Jedi for leisure
Sleeping
Watching movies, anime
Talking with my friend on the phone and/or hanging out with my Connect group every other weekend
If you don’t have your own list of things that fill your cup, I encourage you to build one. Further, take some time to consider the ways in which you know, or learn, your cup is getting empty. This will give you a clue as to what you might like to do to fill it.
May the Force be with You All
