Recently I was given an incredible gift. It’s an Ember, the world’s first temperature control mug, and it keeps my coffee at exactly the right temperature for me. It comes with its own charging coaster and can be paired with my smartphone. The Ember recognizes when it is in need of being recharged, and the normally white light at the base of the mug turns red, letting me know that it is running out of juice. A bit of time on the charging coaster and it is ready to go again, but go too long without recharging and the temperature of my coffee drops fast.

We are a lot like the Ember mug.

We are meant to stay charged up in order to bring what we have to offer to the world within our reach, but if we go too long without recharging we run out of juice fast.

We too have an indicator light, unique to each one of us, that lets us know when we are in need of a recharge.

We too can learn recognize our signals that let us know we are running out of juice, when our normally white light turns to red. And sooner is better than later, or everyone is gonna pay.

There isn’t always time for a full recharge, but a walk around the block, a quick call to a good listener, a couple of minutes behind a closed door, or even three slow breaths, can keep our batteries going until we can find our way to some time on our own “charging coaster” of choice.

White light: Good to go.

Red light: Time to recharge.