The Journey of Self Kindness

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

The Muse Tarot's Seven of Pentacles and It’s Going To Be Okay 2024 Day-to-day Calendar By Kate AllanToday’s draw is the Seven of Pentacles combined with the affirmation “You can’t always find healing in other peoples love. Sometimes you need to be the one showing kindness toward yourself.”

For someone unaccustomed to self-love, the journey to finding how to give yourself this kindness (and accept it from oneself) is a long one. It’s a hard path to learn, and harder still something to make a habit of.  So many obstacles stand in the way from how we were raised and past experiences, to self judgements and mental health challenges.

In these cards today is encouragement.  They say, “Don’t give up on the journey. Keep trying. It’s okay if it takes a lifetime.”

DECKS USED:  THE MUSE TAROT AND IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY 2024 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR BY KATE ALLAN

#mysticstartarot Challenge Prompt
Questions for February 15th thru 17th

Astral Realms Crystal OracleWhat are my low vibrational thoughts about myself?

Culmination / Hematite – You need to finish everything you start, otherwise it nags at you and niggles in your mind, chipping away at your sense of comfort and completion until you finish.

How have these thoughts sabotaged my relationship with myself?

Cognizance / Emerald – It gets into your head and screws with your perception of yourself, your capabilities, and your potential.

How can I release the negative thoughts about self?

Resolve / Desert Jasmine – Keep working on that more positive outlook you’ve been trying to incorporate into your life to counterbalance your natural pessimism and negative inner narrative. Lean into the positivity and optimism. You know it makes a difference when you try.

DECK USED: ASTRAL REALMS CRYSTAL ORACLE

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2024 Challenge Prompt
Question for February 16th : Do a Grouch a Favor Day – How can you give the grouch in your life a break today?

The Muse Tarot - Justice, Temperance, Page of Cups, Three of CupsThree of Cups – Togetherness is better, so don’t leave them alone.

Page of Cups Rx – Don’t expect them to have all the answers today, especially about why they’re feeling how they’re feeling.

Temperance atop Justice – Have a little patience instead of snapping back immediately in response to their attitude.

Take Away: You have a tendency to reflect back people’s attitudes and behaviors back at them. Today isn’t the day to let that tendency have free reign.  Be kind and take the high road instead of getting pulled into petty squabbling.  Show them that you can be there without needing to fix anything or dig into what’s wrong.  Sometimes just being there is enough.

DECK USED: THE MUSE TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I had ice cream (yes, that counts!)

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_0141Sweet Mornings

I want to
reach for you
among
tangled sheets
and find warm flesh
to press upon mine
as we roll and shift
to get closer
with low chuckles
and quiet gasps
until we fit together
like puzzle pieces
that are
never meant
to be apart

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Positive Mistakes

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#DailyCalm with the Calm app - Rupi Kaur quoteToday’s meditation was ten minutes long, and one of the #DailyCalm sessions from the Calm app.  The topic of today’s session was about how we look at love.  Some people see love as something that they cannot live without. That the “true love” factor is an eternal hunt for your “missing piece” which means you will never be complete without it.   It proposes that a better way to look at love is to love oneself and see oneself as whole and complete on one’s own… and seek someone that then amplifies your good qualities as you amplify theirs.

I liked this, and not just because it uses Shel Silverstein’s “The Missing Piece” story as its basis (although, that was a bonus). In the profession of reading cards, you run into a lot of people who see themselves as forever incomplete if they don’t find their “perfect match”. Some who get into unhealthy or abusive relationships because they insist they found their “missing piece” in someone that is abusive or toxic… thus stay in those relationships.

I like the idea of people being whole on their own. Developing themselves as a unique individual who is then complimented by another whole and unique individual.  It feels far healthier to me than the alternative.

Golden Age of Romance Comics Tarot's Eight of Wands and It’s Going To Be Okay 2024 Day-to-day Calendar By Kate AllanToday’s draw is the Eight of Wands combined with the affirmation “Mistakes are fine. They don’t make you a bad person.”

Sometimes, when we make a mistake, we hurry to judge ourselves harshly.  We even overlook whatever positives we might gain from having messed up in the first place.  What lessons did we learn? Where is this mistake taking us that could be a good thing in the end?

The cards today are about these moments, and remembering to slow down and consider if those mistakes we make along the way (both big and small) are really as bad as we think they are… or if something good came out of them in the end. The message today is a reminder not to judge yourself so harshly for these mistakes, but find the boon in them and run with it.

DECKS USED:  GOLDEN AGE OF ROMANCE COMICS TAROT AND IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY 2024 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR BY KATE ALLAN

Daily Self Kindness

I called an electrician instead of trying to figure out what the hell happened in the kitchen lighting by myself.

Self-Worth vs Personal Flaws

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Today’s meditation was skipped.

Exotic Cancer Tarot's Eight of Swords and It’s Going To Be Okay 2024 Day-to-day Calendar By Kate AllanToday’s draw is the Eight of Swords combined with the affirmation “Kind of a mess, but mostly fabulous.”

Don’t let that “mostly” blind you to just how amazing you are.  When you only focus on those qualities you don’t like in yourself, it allows them to take over and make you blind to all the good that’s also there.

In other words?  Stop picking on yourself and pay attention to all the good stuff instead of the handful of flaws and bad crap that your brain wants to inflate to the point it affects your perception of self-worth. Don’t let it do that.

DECKS USED:  EXOTIC CANCER TAROT AND IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY 2024 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR BY KATE ALLAN

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2024 Challenge Prompt
Philosophical Question for February 14th : Is love ever logical?

Exotic Cancer Tarot - Page of Swords, Queen of Swords, Knight of SwordsReading Summary:  A lack of experience and lack of “filters” (Queen of Swords Rx), combined with a lack of desire to learn (Page of Swords Rx), embraces impulsive acts (Knight of Swords).

Side Note:  The way I pull cards is to do a lazy overhand shuffle until each card falls out.  Each of these cards fell out individually from different parts of the deck… so the trio of sword court cards is not some sort of deck randomization issue.

Take Away: These cards are all examples of illogical thinking and lack of forethought. They say that there is no logic involved in love, only impulse.

DECK USED: EXOTIC CANCER TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I took a nap today even though I didn’t really have a lot of time for it.  My stomach was acting up and lying down seemed to help a bit.

Gideon’s Challenge

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Build a Bear Red and Gold Chinese New Year DragonGuardian Gift

A surprise
in the mail
for valentines day
and I bring
the package home
filled with curiosity
when I open the box
what do I see?
a fierce red face
looking back at me
a guardian
to watch over
the treasures
I hold dear
and remind me
that love
is always near

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Listening to Lies

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#DailyCalm with the Calm app - Papaji quoteToday’s meditation was a ten minute #DailyCalm session with the Calm app that addressed the value and importance of individuality.

The session was a reminder that it’s not in the ways we conform to society that get us noticed and draw others to us; it’s in those ways that we are unique. It discussed how, when we show our true colors and put our unique traits out there on display, we draw people to us that admire us, connect with us, and enjoy our company… and don’t expect us to change ourselves to conform to their values, principles, and idea of how you -should- look or behave.  It’s how we find our tribe… those in life that we connect with deeply and profoundly.

Victorian Romantic Tarot's Eight of Swords and It’s Going To Be Okay 2024 Day-to-day Calendar By Kate AllanToday’s draw is the Eight of Swords combined with the affirmation “Your survival rate is 100%!”

Depression and anxiety can make it difficult for us to see just how capable we are.  It descends over us and blinds us in a fog of misery and “what if” thinking.  It leaves us feeling powerless and alone, hopeless and drowning.

During these times it’s important to remember that you are being blinded by your ailing mental health.  This is not reality.  You are far more capable than you can see in these moments… and the proof is right before you in the fact you’re still here and breathing.

You’ve gone through tough times before, and come out the other end just fine, and you will this time too.  Don’t let your depression or anxiety tell you differently.

DECKS USED:  THE VICTORIAN ROMANTIC TAROT AND IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY 2024 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR BY KATE ALLAN

#DiscordTarotholicsFeb2024 Challenge Prompt
Question for February 13th : Get a Different Name Day – Pull a card. Muse on how you and your life might be different if you had had more of this card’s qualities in your life from an early age.

Victorian Romantic Tarot - Nine of Swords, Knight of CupsKnight of Cups – The Knight of Cups is all about going after those things that make you happy.  It’s about action and movement and “seizing the day” in the area of one’s joys and happiness.  Having more of this in my life would open me up to experiencing more joy and happiness, but also pull my attention away from some of the responsibilities I carry.  It is a double edged sword, for I may smile more and have more fun, but I think I might also be more stressed due to a greater lack of stability in the areas of life that require that “buckling down” needed to keep things on an even keel.

Nine of Swords – The Nine of Swords is about nightmares, anxieties, worry, and insomnia. Having more of these qualities in my life would mean a rise to more organization and a need for greater amounts of rigid structure.  I have been in that experience before just after the home invasion, and it means turning into a shut in and not going outside.  It means a katy bar against the door, extra security cameras, and a great deal less daylight.

DECK USED: THE VICTORIAN ROMANTIC TAROT

Daily Self Kindness

I slept in the back of the truck today on the way north, and skipped out on going into Costco to avoid the concrete floors (which always make my body hurt by the time we’re done).