I'm sure by now we've all heard the phrase you can't pour from an empty cup. But I heard something recently that took that concept deeper for me.
The phrase was “is my pantry full?” The speaker was talking about her physical pantry, and how she likes to keep it stocked up so she doesn’t run out of foodstuffs. I, of course, went a totally different direction with it.
Is my emotional pantry full of things like joy, gratitude, appreciation of beauty, friendship, peace, etc?
Is my mental pantry full of things like affirmations, encouragements, good memories, ideas, etc?
Is my self-care pantry full of things like scheduled times for rest & relaxation, quality sleep, moments just for me, time to take a nice hot bath/shower without my brain spinning, asking for help, allowing someone to help me, morning coffee or tea before the day gets busy, time with friends, etc?
Or going the other direction…do my pantries need to be cleaned out? Have you ever noticed that cleaning out your pantry is not a “one and done” kind of thing? I have to continually check expiration dates on my canned goods and spices, for example. It’s not uncommon for me to find one of the spices I rarely use is years past its expiration date. Constant vigilance is required if the items in my pantry are going to be useful to me.
Constant vigilance is also required for our internal pantries, not because the items in them have expiration dates, but because if we’re not mindful, we can stock the pantry with unhelpful/unhealthy items. Sometimes old false-beliefs hide behind other, more helpful items, and it can be harder to recognize them or realize they’re in there.
Is my emotional pantry full of jealousy, pain, resentment, anger, disappointment, etc?
Is my mental pantry full of criticisms, discouraging comments, negative words, other people’s perceptions of me, etc?
Is my self-care pantry full of self-neglect, time for everyone except me, believing I have to do it all myself with no help, etc?
Our internal pantries fuel our life. When we keep them stocked with helpful/healthy thoughts & beliefs, we’ll find that we have the strength to keep going, and to go farther than we thought we could.
Many thanks to the wonderful ladies at Safe Heart Connections for the self-care examples.
Love something good to chew on! Thanks, Mary!