Most messages are about serving, about how connected we all are, how helping others is helping ourselves. Today’s message is different. This one is about YOU and taking care of YOU.
Society teaches us to serve others until we are depleted. At least, that’s what I learned as I was growing up, especially as a woman. ‘It’s better to give than to receive.’ ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’
The problem with those sayings is that we didn’t get the nuance that we ALSO need to take care of ourselves or we won’t have anything to give to others!
If we give, give, give until there is nothing left to give, then the next person who needs us is out of luck. I learned from Lisa Nichols the best image of appropriate service. She used the metaphor of a cup and saucer, where the cup represents you and you fill it up until it overflows, then you serve from the saucer. If you are always filling up your cup, there is always overflow from which to serve and you are never depleted. This means that you don’t have to stop serving to restore yourself – you keep filling yourself up and you can keep serving from the saucer.
And if it’s so wonderful to give, what about those of us who have learned to give but have never learned how to receive? Aren’t we depriving others of the opportunity to give to us? Think about that nuance. Maybe it is better to give someone else the opportunity to give to us than to always receive the pleasure of giving without letting anyone else have that fun.
Now, I’m not referring here to the political debates about the ‘givers’ and the ‘takers.’ Those labels are being used maliciously to justify certain positions and we’re not getting into politics here.
But most of us know what giving to others means and our generous, conscious, compassionate humanity leads us to give what and when we can.
It’s okay to consider yourself and your own needs. Sometimes we need permission to do that. You have that permission now. Focusing on what you need is vital to supporting your efforts to help others in need. Fill up your cup so you can serve from the saucer.
Reframe the word ‘selfish’ to ‘self-focused’ so you can release the pejorative judgments that go along with the idea of thinking of self. YOU are the one on Planet Earth at this time to live YOUR Soul Purpose. Taking care of yourself is essential to showing up for your Purpose.
Recently I’ve been doing Scientific Hand Analysis sessions for clients who are in the School of Service, one of the four schools in this system. The lesson in this Life School is to become a Master of Service Consciousness, understanding the difference between Service and Servitude. Service comes from a place of joy in the service and the act of serving is its own reward, with no concerns about ‘thank you’ or reciprocation. Servitude is saying ‘yes’ and then resenting that choice, wishing we’d said ‘no’ and wanting to get out of the obligation, or, worse, resenting the person to whom we made the commitment.
All of us are here to serve, not just those whose handprints indicate that their Life School is Service [this is just their Major at Earth University!], but we all need to learn to take care of ourselves so that we are available to help others.
What does this mean for you? Are you able to say ‘no’ when you need to, without feeling guilty about it? Are you filling up your cup so you can serve from the saucer or do you wait until you’re depleted so you can give yourself permission to stop and refresh?
Be conscious about putting ‘I’ on your to do list! Take care of YOU first and you’ll be able to take care of everyone who needs you!
After all, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself’ doesn’t mean much if you don’t love yourself enough to take care of YOU!
PS: Are you curious about how your hand and fingerprints reveal your Life Pupose? Explore this more here.
Mystic Messages 
EXPLORATION: Think New Thoughts for 2013
January 23, 2013 — RosemaryIt seems important for us to look at the state of the world and the way that humans are treating humans today.
This is not about politics although the politics of each country reflect what is happening in the psyches of the inhabitants. What are you projecting from your psyche?
Since thoughts are energetic projects and have an effect on the environment we must take responsibility for the thoughts that we hold in our energy fields. Ask yourself about the thoughts you projected today. Did they come from a place within you that is sourced in Love? Were your thoughts uplifting ones that, if written down and shared with others, they would make someone smile and feel good about themselves? Or were you angry or upset and projecting that energy outward?
Think about the effect on a city when anger and hatred are stirred up and people are focused on disenfranchising others or hating and separating others. Think about what could happen in a place where the people are fearful or wanting to kill others or angry at their neighbors.
Now think about the effect on a city when the inhabitants come together around a common cause to support each other. Think about a community where kids can play safely because neighbors look out for neighbors. Think about the energy in a place where neighbors spend the evening sitting together outside sharing chitchat and watching kids play together.
What do you feel as you imagine these scenarios? Can you picture the column of energy that rises up from a place when the energy is what you pictured? Which energy column would you rather sit next to?
This is what we each have a responsibility to create and to monitor. Your energy is magnified when attached to the energy of others. What do you chat about with your friends? Your co-workers? Are you spinning each other up with thoughts of hatred and anger and separation? Or are you finding common ground in which to discuss ways that you are similar and can agree? When you spout off do you move the conversation to solutions or do you stay in the emotion of the problems? Are you more comfortable discussing issues than seeking strategies for moving beyond the problems?
Each of us has responsibility for the thought energies we project. When we gather with others, we intensify the energy of the ideas expressed and discussed. Conversations do not have to be confrontational. There can be real, honest agreements to disagree, but there must be respect for the person even if the ideas expressed cannot be embraced.
Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten that we are all connected. We are all members of the human race. We have differing perspectives based on what we have been taught or what we have experienced or what we have embraced as our values. Yet each person is on Planet Earth to learn lessons, to grow, to advance human consciousness, whether or not they have embraced that responsibility.
Accept that you cannot control the thoughts of others, but you can control your own. Catch yourself building a column of energy that doesn’t feel supporting and light and stop it. Shift your thinking to thoughts of Light and Hope and Community. Make sure you are projecting energy that you wouldn’t mind having projected onto you!
And surround yourself with people who are willing co-creators of columns of Light rather than anger and hatred. We will all thank you!
PS: To guide your thoughts for 2013 with incredible inspiration from The Divine Feminine you can get the 8 recordings I made at the end of 2012 during my Wisdom of the Week (WOW) calls. Get them here.