# The overflowing cup ##### Untangling Pain ---  --- ## tl;dr - I use the overflowing cup to explain how much threat our nervous system can cope with at a given time. - DIMs add to the cup; SIMs help build capacity. - Everyone’s cup is different and can change, including across the menstrual cycle. - When it overflows, the response might be pain, fatigue, burnout, tears, or something else. - Use this analogy if it helps you understand your own pattern; you can leave it if another explanation works better. > [!abstract]- Transcript > > Another analogy I really love, and you'll come to realise just how much I love analogies, is one that Greg Lehmann, has shared. One of an overflowing cup. This sort of puts together the ideas of DIMs and SIMs a little bit better, so I've used this again to explain it to my clients. > > Sometimes we've used the DIMs and SIMs. We've created a sheet. We've split the sheet in half, we've got DIMs and SIMs. And helping them to understand what is maybe flaring up the the brain and the nervous system. And also what they can do to reduce it, to create those SIMs. > > But sometimes this can help them understand it a little bit better. > > So, our cup is the capacity for us to cope with everything that's going on. > > When I say us, I mean our nervous system. We all have a certain amount that we can cope with, and this is represented by the cup, and this is different for everyone. > > And it may also change in size, depending on many different factors. It could be that your capacity to cope is less, say, during your period. > > So, your cup is your capacity. > > The things that go into your cup are all the things that are a threat or danger to you. > > And when your cup overflows, this is when pain is produced. > > Linking back to the DIMs and SIMs, the DIMs are all the things that go in the cup, the SIMs are the cup. > > I use lots of these different analogies because some people sometimes don't understand one of them and it doesn't click, and that's when I use a different analogy. Please don't think you need to remember all these analogies. > > Take what you need, discard the rest. > > With this overflowing cup, I've used the same analogy in the past to describe my capacity to cope when it comes to burnout. Or energy levels if clients have chronic fatigue. And it's the same idea. > > Remember that pain is just an output, a response. It may not always show up as pain when we have, filled our cup or overfilled our cup. It could show up as fatigue or burnout or anger or resentment or tears or gut issues, anything. Sources → [[Sources – Untangling Pain#Module 1|Module 1]] Next lesson → [[Module 1 Lesson 11 – Calm shit down - Build shit up|Calm shit down - Build shit up]] %% - [[Overflowing Cup Analogy]] - [[DIMs and SIMs Sheet]] - [[our cup is the capacity for us to cope with everything that’s going on]] - [[Linking DIMs and SIMs to the overflowing cup]] - [[Why I use different Analogies]] %%