I am used to serving others. It's been the primary focus in my life, for over two decades, and even my path into the world of the spiritual continues this theme.
However, I have learned that if you keep emptying from your cup, and you don't put anything back in, you end up empty.
For 22 years, I was in show business, as a performing arts specialist, focusing on the application of singing, acting, and dance from a culturally and historically accurate foundation. Before the pandemic, I spent a minimum of ten hours a day on this career, and many time, this took me to sixteen hours a day, with an occasional single day off in a week. All the while, managing and growing a family to the best of my ability, and secretly growing my spiritual private practice, healing spirits, talking to the dead, and managing my oversensitive psychic senses.
When the pandemic hit, I had an epiphany. I invested in myself with knowledge and then invested in others' experiences. However, by the time I was 36, I realized that I had very little real world experiences for myself. My life was focused on taking care of others, helping them along the way in building their own experiences, and initiating events, past-times, hobbies, and interests that were deemed as self-care for them.
But where is mine?
This is why I am taking a break from streaming... I talk a good game when it comes to self-care. I'm quite good at helping others find the ways to cultivate the patterns of healthy self-care and life balance. But like a cardiac surgeon who smokes, I'm not so good at doing it for myself.
I have found my worth to be centered in what I do for others, and not in what I do to take care of myself. Do I have value outside of what I do for other people? Yes.
I run a school, again. And this time, we are all trying to find the balance, through spiritual means, to be healthy, connecting to spirit, to ourselves, and to a community. If I can't model this behavior appropriately, what is the value of all of these incredible teachings?
I will still be of service to others, caring for others (Cancer in Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus - so can't really help it). But I can create boundaries for how much I will do for others. That means the twitch cannel needs to go on hold until I have more in my cup to give.
Let me model an appropriate amount of work by not being so accessible to others.
Warmly,
Aly Cardinalli, Headmaster
