Overflow: The empty cup

Everyone wants to live in Overflow. Yet, we’ve built practices and expectations that limit our ability to experience it. In this second installment of the Overflow series, let’s peer into our Six Cups and why they’re always empty. 

Previously, we identified our “Six Cups” as six strategies for overflow. This included the following:

• Physical Cup-Caring for your body through rest, exercise, quality foods, and proper hygiene. 
• Spiritual Cup-Connecting with your values and beliefs.
• Mental & Emotional Cup (ME Cup)-Acknowledging your feelings and the feelings of those around you.
• Intellectual Cup (I Cup)-Engaging in activities that expand your knowledge and/or creativity.
• Social Cup-Nurturing healthy relationships.
• Career & Financial Cup-Operating in your skills, gifts, and passions and building a financial legacy.

We have had these Six Cups throughout our lives, but many of us have not been using and maintaining them correctly. Hence social media posts, wellness gurus, and our own symptoms of burnout collective remind us, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” (But we’ll sure try, won’t we?)

Due to the fast pace of modern society, we tend to pour out of ourselves from the moment we wake up until we pass out at night. We pour out to family here, pour into work there, pour into the community over here, and so on. This constant pouring is why we are burned out! This is precisely how the Thief referenced in John 10:10 snatches abundant life right from underneath our noses. 

But what if there was another way to live? What if we stopped looking for these cups to pour out and into our various responsibilities and assignments, which leaves us empty? Instead, what if we looked for these cups to pour into each other, which allows us to replenish ourselves as we go? Or, said another way, what if we could refill the cups that are in overwhelm, by pouring into them from the cups that are in overflow?

Picture this: Your Career & Financial Cup is low, very low. You are not fond of your working environment or the compensation. You could allow this to dry up every ounce of your energy as you awake anxious every morning and go to bed with despondency every night. Or you could choose to pour into the Career & Financial Cup from a cup with a little more to give that day, such as your Intellectual Cup. Does your job have any workshops or professional development classes available? If so, perhaps you use your intellectual abilities to enhance your resume in preparation for the next opportunity. Could you invest in a LinkedIN Learning subscription or enroll in a webinar being hosted online? What career development opportunities are being offered by your local library, career development center, chamber of commerce, or civic organization? Any learning opportunity where your Intellectual Cup can pour into your professional skills and professional identity would both remind yourself of your value and help you communicate said value in interviews, professional documents (resume, CV), and your professional portfolio. 

This “pouring into” concept can be applied across any cups at any time, as long as we are intentional to do so. Properly managing the Six Cups is critical to pouring within and replenishing ourselves, so we are protected against stress, anxiety, emptiness, and burnout. However, to employ these strategies as such, we must first slow down enough to be poured into. God offers to pour into us every day. He does this by daily loading us with benefits (Psalm 68:19), giving us joy every morning (Psalm 30:5), and giving us new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He changes us, and He changes our perspective. But when we whiz past these benefits, we out-pace our peace. Which brings us to this critical truth: you have everything you need, to do everything God wants. We just have to be willing to accept it. 

One of my favorite reminders of this is Philippians 2:13, MSG, “Be energetic in your life of salvation…That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.” When the Well Woman encountered her well place, a spring of water welled up in her, and she took off with purpose and vigor (John 4:14, 28)! 

When we encounter our well place, we learn how to convert unhealthy stress (distress) to healthy stress (eustress). We receive the energy to carry out our life assignment. And we go from overwhelm to overflow. We will dive into the meaning, purpose, and value of each cup as we continue the Overflow series. If you’d like to jump ahead, grab your copy of Overflow at doctorasha.com/books. 

Dr. Asha Fields Brewer is a creator of healthy conversations. As a national speaker and published author, she teaches the busy and overwhelmed how to live life abundantly. She is the owner of Temple Fit Co. wellness agency, which is home to 25-plus wellness speakers and fitness instructors. Tune in to “Temple Fit Devotions with Dr. Asha” on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. on Hallelujah 95.3 FM.