Asking about Life

This month's newsletter seemed to me so much to be about how to look after ourselves well, so I thought this month I would ask for you: "What are some of the best ways we can be kind to ourselves and treat ourselves well?"  It felt like an important topic to me as so often we rush around and don't think much about it.

 

I felt called to use The Four Agreements Deck in this reading for you, by Don Miguel Ruiz. It just felt like the best fit here. It is an Oracle deck. not a Tarot and yet still  has wisdom to it, as most decks do. I was happy to pull it out again. It's a deck I am quite fond of but have not used in ages. I am very fond of the work of Don Miguel Ruiz altogether, both his decks and his books. So it was a pleasure for me to use this deck again for you here. As you can see it's quite direct, yet useful and informative. :-)

 

So again I asked: "What are some of the best ways we can be kind to ourselves and treat ourselves well?" . And here are the cards that came up and what they had to say:

Card 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This first card is really all about balance. And really that can be a very important topic. This card asks what does the idea of doing your best mean to you? How would you go about doing your best in what you face in your life?

The message of this card is that at times, it's not about how hard you try but how intelligently you try. When facing something important, this card says that it's important to know how to pace yourself. We can't work non-stop on something and expect to excel at it and succeed. Without the proper rest and time to laugh and be ourselves in better we can get too frazzled to be our true selves, too frazzled to remember what we learnt clearly. And that does not help anyone. (seen in the woman's frazzled hair here.

 

The birds in her hair say that sometimes we have some "cuckoo" ideas on how to do our best. To do our best we need to do in the spirit of enjoying what we do and of fun (didn't we all do best in the subjects we enjoyed most in school?)

 

This card says that yes it is important in life to have goals and to work towards them. But not to overdo and overtire ourselves doing so.  That is not doing our best, and in fact it prevents us from doing our best. It's about working wisely, over working hard.  This card says that if we try to do too much too fast and overtire ourselves it can and will actually take us longer to accomplish our goals.  And that, in fact, doing our best means knowing how to listen and follow our inner selves. Eg stop and eat when hungry, stop and take a rest when needed to replenish and laugh, sleep when tired...

 

 

Card 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is another card about how to do your best. :-)  And the advice of this card is to try to stay in the present moment. Naturally enough spending our time regretting things from the past or worrying about what may be in the future (when what we worry about most likely will not even ever come to pass) won't do much to help us do and be our best in the here and how.  The advice of this card for you for you is to try to just stay in the present moment and not give in to those things.

 

Try to focus mostly on the beauty of nature and of life all around you in the present moment. In the actual present moment, and not lost in worry or guilt, there is true beauty and things are calm and as they should be. The more we can make that the focus, the more that shines though.

 

This can lead to the beginning of a new way of seeing and understanding for you....the start of the formulation of a new dream.

 

 

 Card 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This always feels like an important message to me whenever I see it.  It can at times, be very important not to make assumptions without stopping to verify if they are accurate. Not doing so can lead to all kinds of unnecessary misunderstandings in life and even arguments at times

 

So the advice for you here is that if you come across a situation that seems or feels familiar to you, where someone is acting or treating you similarly to how someone else once did in the past, don't just assume that their motives are the same. That they are JUST LIKE the other person and it is the same thing all over again.

 

Each person is an individual with different ideas, feelings, background and upbringing to anyone else in the world. Even if the situation FEELS so similar or even identical to one you have experiences before and even if they seem as identical as two peas in a pod, this card is advising you to not just assume that one person has the same ideas and motives as someone else from your past. The advice here it to NOT assume anything but stop and ask the person why and what the they are feeling. This way you can avoid misunderstandings and it may even really open your eyes and help you see the world and the past differently and in a new light.

 

And this also applies to explaining clearly what you think. This card is really all about good communication. It also asks you not to just assume that other people know what you mean or are feeling if you don't tell them directly. You may even be sure that they know, but unless you tell them directly and clearly, in reality they may not even have a clue.

 

So this card suggests working on not assuming, but instead talking things out.  Assume nothing.

 

 

Card 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the last card is about being impeccable with your word, naturally always a good idea. :-)

To me that means not saying things you don't mean and if you make a promise to do something, keeping it  The image of this card is about having/choosing the kinds of thoughts that are beautiful in nature and that grow in beauty.

This cards says the more trust and faith you have in life, that it is on your side, the more you can let go of what is holding you back and blossom into the best you you can be.  The most faith you have, naturally the less doubt you have. Doubts hold us back from trying.  If we hold ourselves back from trying, we can never really know WHAT we might have become or learnt and grown from.

So the advice for you here is the more faith you can "cultivate" in yout life, the better you will be treating yourself, the more you can let yourself experience and the greater heights and joys you reach.

Go for it, your life is yours for the taking.  First grow your sense of faith and then follow it higher and higher.