Question: What does it mean to nurture myself so I can serve from my overflow?

Answer: Nurturing yourself is on the order of breathing in, which comes naturally. So taking care of yourself is actually a natural order. It’s not something you have to acquire because it’s a foreign or alien concept. It’s natural to care for yourself because it’s natural to breathe in and out.

What may interfere with nurturing yourself is the way you process what you’re experiencing. If you process what you’re experiencing negatively, that creates static. You’ll start putting in blocks, restrictions, oppression and suppression. Then you may experience something like shallow breathing. If you’re not getting sufficient oxygen, there’s going to be a disturbance. If you’re breathing in fully, that means you’re taking in your life and embracing your life physically. Taking in your life, breathing it in, means you’re receptive towards life and all of its conditions.

For example, if it’s raining and you’re wet, cold and starting to shiver, then first you need to get out of the rain and to some warmth and shelter. You need to move in accordance with the conditions and take care of yourself. As you do that, it puts you into a progressive state. You’ll amplify your movement such that you are increased as you take care of yourself. Then you are better able to serve others.

In the game of Jai Alai, the players use long, basket-type scoops to catch a ball which travels at powerful speeds. They use the same motion to catch the ball as they do to release it forward. With this continuous movement, the ball comes out of the scoop and with even greater intensity. Similarly, if you take the loving energy of God into yourself and move it forward with the same intensity and devotion as it has come to you, it expands. It increases you. You grow. You strengthen. You can then serve naturally from your overflow.

Take your life in such as it is, regardless of the conditions. Take it in and allow the negativity to be transformed so when it comes out of you, it’s joy. It’s peace. It’s caring. That’s taking it in and giving it to God. When you give it to God, God returns it in a form that’s useful. The negativity is removed. What comes back to you is an increase.

Sometimes people judge themselves when they look in the mirror. You may put on a pair of pants and decide you don’t like how the pants look on your body. You could adjust the pants or change the pants, but instead you may judge yourself and say something like, “I should be trimmer. I should look different than I do.” If you judge yourself negatively, then you’re placing a barrier against yourself. You’re taking offense at yourself physically.

At those times, it’s important to be conscious of your thoughts and feelings. Be aware of your experience and your perceptions. Honor them, and respond with acceptance and compassion for yourself as a divine creation of God. That’s nurturing yourself.

If someone else is upset with what they see in the mirror, you can choose to see the good and say, “You’re beautiful!” They may argue with you, but you can see them as God sees them. You can see them through God’s inspiration. God sees through the lesser state to what’s greater. At times, that asks of you to look beyond what you see in the world even if that’s how you perceive it at first.

If someone says, “If you knew me, you wouldn’t love me. You wouldn’t care,” you can see through that. Choose to see through the eyes of God to the greater state of who they are. See what others don’t see. See the goodness in their hearts.

When a person is in self-condemnation and self-judgment, hold for them by loving them. It’s amazing when someone holds the consciousness that says, “I love you no matter what. You can tell me all the facts of your life, and I’m still going to love you because my love is the love of God. It’s not based on anything you did.” When you hold that loving, that’s powerful medicine, and you need to do that first for yourself. Then you can do that for others.

Nurturing yourself gives you greater abilities and allows you to come into greater alignment with your functionality and purpose. There’s a purpose for you that is complementary to what’s going on in the world so that you become a contribution. The world is better because you’re here. That’s your destiny. Everybody has that destiny to make the world better. We are all here to contribute as loving, caring beings.

Be receptive to what God is providing to you. Breathe it in deeply. Then from what you receive, go towards the highest good. Take in that divine inspiration and focus it on what’s serves best.

As you look at nurturing yourself, learn to be more and more receptive. Learn how to suspend yourself from things that grab or block you. To simplify it, stop judging. You can assign that to yourself and say, “My purpose is no judgment. As soon as I catch myself judging, I let that go. I release that. I move myself into a neutral state. Whatever is going on, it’s okay. I accept.”

Remember that acceptance is different from agreement. You can be in acceptance and not like something. For example, when you put salt in your food, there’s an amount you’d like and then there’s a level where it would be too much. Take things in with that relativity in mind, like the saying, “All things in moderation.” Be receptive in proper proportion and proper order to what’s best for you.

We must be receptive. We have to take, and we can take in the sacredness of what is provided for us. We can give thanks. We can give praise to God which in turn means we are co-creators. As a co-creator, you are acting in God’s stead. If God was in a body, you’d be it. What are you going to do with that? You’re choosing to serve. Good call!

However, you have to serve in order. First, you have to be receptive, which means being open to the Spirit and taking care and nurturing yourself. That naturally moves into your ability to serve. When you don’t nurture yourself, it’s actually doing a disservice. You may claim that you’re doing something in the name of service and caring, but you’re not helping because you’re not caring for yourself first. When you look at God’s inspiration, it’s loving towards all of the creation which includes you first of all.

Remember that all things are good. All things are from love. Get to that awareness and bathe in it. You may then feel like, “I don’t know why but I’m feeling all this love for everybody and everything!”

Don’t question your loving. Just enjoy it. Being human, something’s going to come along and knock you off temporarily. Something’s going to test you. In order to test you, it may take you down into the negativity. Then you may discover how dedicated you are to your spirit.

That’s really where inspiration comes from — a dedication of the Spirit within you. Inspiration relates to breathing in. So breathe in the Spirit and serve from your divine inspiration. Dedicate yourself to seeing the greater good. See it in the Spirit first. Breathe it in. Be receptive. Remember that if you can behold it, it can be made manifest. You’ll then be serving from your overflow.

As you discover and are receptive to your divine inspiration, you’re reborn. You realize who you truly are. You become more and more fully God’s co-creator in this world, nurturing yourself first so you can help serve for the highest good.