How Full Is Your Cup? by Emmitt Drumgoole

How full is your cup?

I am not referring to the soda can, coffee mug, or water bottle you are holding in your hand. How full is your emotional cup? Your emotional capacity? How full or empty are you emotionally today? We all have emotional capacity, and each of our capacities differs.

Similarly, the events and situations that we encounter can fill our emotional cup or empty it. A warm smile or meaningful conversation with a trusted friend can empty our cups, lowering our anxiety and our stress. Similarly, an unexpected traumatic situation can fill our cups to the brim and cause our cups to become overflowing. The result is an inability to regulate our behavior and responses to stimuli.

Good stuff, isn’t it? This is one small aspect that the Resilience Community Group has discussed the past six weeks as we seek to be better informed in how we care for children and for one another. Among the good news is that the lasting effects of living in toxic stress can be reversed. This is one of the ways that we can begin the process. Each of our cups has the capacity to be emptied, and it can start with this simple question. “How full is your cup?”

To find out more, check out this four-minute YouTube video.

This week the Resilience Community Group, led by Kim Halfhill and me, will come to a close. We have explored the revolutionary health studies that have led to A.C.E.’s, adverse childhood experiences, and how we can overcome them through knowledge, awareness, and strategies. Although this group will end, the work will continue as we seek to determine how this groundbreaking research can benefit our families, ministries, and our community.

If you are interested in the research, or would just like to know more, contact Kim Halfhill or me and we will be sure to get you connected and involved.

As a course of action today, try asking your children, friends, and others about their emotional cup. Invite them to watch the video link, then discuss.

Blessings,

Emmitt Drumgoole