You can’t pour from an empty cup

There was a lot of talk at the early part of this year about the release from the Year of the Snake and stepping into the Year of the Fire Horse.

I remember one of the strongest pieces of guidance I was seeing all over at the time was “beware of burnout”.

The Fire Horse energy is incredible. It can drive us to push forward with great momentum and really bring change to our lives, but if we are not careful, we can push too hard and exhaust ourselves.

Despite knowing this, despite it being at the back of my mind, in true human fashion, I still ignored it.

So today, I wanted to share something of a public service announcement about the importance of self-care.

It is something we all know. I have talked about it several times before, but it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and lose ourselves. And this is exactly what has happened to me these last couple of months, until my body finally said enough.

I was feeling great. I had more energy than I have had in a long time. And I had big ideas.

There was so much I wanted to do, and I tried to do it all at once.

It is easy to get swept up in the momentum. Especially if it feels like you haven’t been able to move forward for a long time, which I know is true for many of us under past energy.

But the truth is, slow and steady wins the race.

Juggling the spiritual path alongside day-to-day life has always been challenging.

Life, especially when we are responsible for others, often expects us to be something.
While the spiritual path asks us to just be.

But those two things are often contradictory.

And when we have bills to pay, people to look after, etc., the first thing we often sacrifice is ourselves.

It is our own peace, joy and rest that are the first things to go. And as a result, we push and push and push, until there is very little of us left.

I think this is true for most humans, but in particular, it is something that lightworkers struggle with. Our desire to help others often outweighs our sense of personal care.

But there is one teaching which I learnt when studying Divine Love that I keep coming back to:

Choose love that includes the self.

True Divine Love is balanced.

If we are sacrificing ourselves while giving love to others, then we have lost that balance.

But for many of us, showing love to ourselves is very difficult.

One thing I learnt, though, which has really helped me change the way I approach it, is this:

If at our core we are God, then to not love ourselves is to not love God.

This has helped me mentally approach self-love from a different perspective, which in turn has allowed me to look at the ways in which I don’t show myself love in quite a pragmatic way.

And this helps me to recognise that the reasons why I struggle to show myself love are… surprise, surprise… limiting beliefs.

It is so common for us as human beings to feel guilty for resting, for playing, for taking the time to find peace.

It often feels like we are abandoning the things that we are “meant to be doing”, which can make us feel selfish and lead to guilt and shame.

But here’s the important part:

You can’t help anyone if you’re burnt out.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.

And so, to look after yourself is an act of greater service.

It is critical to your wellbeing.

And therefore, it is just as important as all those other things we are “meant to be doing”, maybe even more important.

So this is my gentle reminder. Learn from my mistakes and show yourself all the love that you deserve.

Take time to rest, to play, for laughter, joy and fun. Take time to just be.

In doing so, you will be the best version of yourself.
You will carry a more coherent vibration.
You will shine brighter.
And ultimately, you will be of greater service to all those around you.

Despite the feeling of overdoing it, this experience has been a great learning opportunity for me. And as a result, I have made a number of changes to my life which I believe will ultimately improve things going forward.

These same lessons and the guidance I have received from Melchizedek have also led me to run a workshop on 15 October titled Held in the Light. In this event we will work to release old limiting beliefs that prevent us from being truly able to rest, before being bathed in the healing frequencies of peace and love.

You can find out more through my website here:

https://david-essery.com/events/held-in-the-light/

Sending lots of love
David 🙏💛