Why Fill To Overflow
Gratitude - The Discipline of abundant living
Dear Why Team Member,
I hope this week’s message finds you well, encouraged and overflowing.
I really try to live by every day being my Best Day Ever but, it has been a very difficult week hearing and observing what has been happening in Israel. To see what can only be viewed as evil is outside of human understanding. No victim mindset is sufficient to justify such atrocities. The complete dehumanization of people has been a scourge on humankind throughout history.
The question I often ask myself, no matter what is happening, is, how am I showing up?; no matter the circumstances internationally, nationally, locally - how am I showing up?! Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? Are my actions encouraging- giving courage, or are my actions discouraging- reducing courage?
I enjoy Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s admonition to clean up your own room - both literally and figuratively. It’s interesting how so many can be so concerned with the affairs of others while not attending to their own affairs. How can one who is unable to clean their own room, believe they have the solutions for others to clean up theirs?
I have shared for years that we cannot serve from an empty cup. If we perceive our own cups to be lacking, we will live more in a state of wanting than a state of giving. If we are not regularly disciplining ourselves to recognize that our own cups are truly overflowing, we will not be giving and serving from that abundance.
We cannot serve from an empty cup.
How are you showing up and why?
A significant theme of the Why Team Weekly is the importance of regularly filling our cups to overflowing. Einstein said we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.
Consider the old adage: ‘if you think what you have always thought, you’ll get what you’ve always got’. For us to live a life more abundant - where we will be more giving and generous than ever before - we must attend to our thinking - specifically thinking that revolves around scarcity. A hyper focus on less-than will develop a life less-than what is possible. However, a life built through discipline on more-than will more likely produce a life that is more-than one thought possible.
Why do we Why Team Members regularly remind ourselves of the importance of gratitude? Because it IS THE DISCIPLINE of abundant living. We cannot serve from an empty cup. We cannot be served from an empty cup. Does your cup runneth over?
And if not, why not? It is likely because you have not been filling it.
This morning, as I filled my cup of gratitude to overflowing, I found myself thinking of others more than myself. I found myself thinking of specific family and friends. I found myself texting words of affirmation, letting them know they were in my thoughts and that I was here for them – some of them going through difficult stages in their lives.
Notice I said “I found myself”. As I noticed myself reaching out to my loved ones, I asked myself why? Why am I thinking of others so much in this moment? And I realized it was because I was feeling so blessed, overwhelmed with the life I am so privileged to live and I’m surely not only referencing the material things. It was the thoughts of gratitude that was filling my cup to overflowing and led to more consideration and love of others.
If we are to be more impactful - if we want the world to be a better place for having been born - I have no doubt that we must first see our own blessings if we are to be more of a blessing.
If you have ever thought to yourself I need to be more thoughtful of others. This behavior will naturally flow from being more thoughtful to the abundant life you are currently living. Is the glass half empty or half full? Well, it’s actually both!!! But focusing more on the half full portion will empower you to better address the half empty portion.
To live in abundance does not mean a denial of the pain and suffering in the world - but if we are not living a life that is overflowing we will not feel that we have more than enough to be the change so many need to see.
No matter what you may be facing in your life today - consider all the more how you are showing up. Is your cup overflowing - and if not, what can you do right now to fill it? What blessings in your life need counting? Begin with: I woke up, I can walk, I can talk.
Our lives could be so much worse - one need only observe world events to see how worse. How can we be more deeply grateful for our lives to be more of a blessing to others?
This week and beyond, consider dedicating more effort to counting your own blessings, to overflowing the cup which is your life and noticing how that overflow will lead to greater service to others.
Be more of the change you want to see.
Make it a great week!
Steve Luckenbach