Today’s meditation was just over thirteen minutes long and was a guided meditation from the Calm app, which I combined with an interval timer for my piriformis stretches and forearm flexor stretching.

I also had to take a slight break about half way through to write down some notes for today’s COTD, as sometimes perspectives come at inconvenient times and this was one of those.  I don’t have the memory retention needed to recall these thoughts later, so I paused to take them down, then continued with the meditation after.

The focus of today’s meditation was on empathy, and the difference between empathy and sympathy. Sympathy can sometimes be taken as an insult, because there’s no sharing of the feeling just “poor you, you feel like this”.   Where empathy is sharing an emotion, speaking from a place of sharing.  Sometimes when we empathize with others, we find ourselves in a place where we just don’t know what to say for this other person.  The meditation today included a reminder that it’s okay to simply say “I don’t know what to say, but I’m glad you told me / are sharing this with me / allowing me to share this time with you”.

Today’s draw is the Two of Zephyrs (Swords), which is traditionally a representation of looking inward for the wisdom to make difficult decisions, finding oneself at a crossroads, or trying to ignore the the need to make a decision which ends up in stagnancy and stewing.

What stands out to me in the imagery of this card today is the interaction between the rat and the vulture in the foreground. That combined with the “choose a child/egg” theme going on in the background speaks to me of conflict. Specifically inner conflict.

We’re starting a new affirmation deck today, and in the Flower Fortune card for today we see a prickly cactus that carries with it a feeling of caution and conflict combined with the words “The person you desire feels the same about you”. Actually… he loves me more. But that’s beside the point, because the actual message here is about our assumptions.  It’s about the assumption that someone wouldn’t feel the same… and how that assumption can hold us back from going after what we want, whether it’s a romantic relationship, a potential friendship, a job promotion, etc.

Today’s cards are about “predicting the future” by making negative assumptions, and how hope and positive thinking can help lighten that load of worry and fear, making the choice to go after what we truly want easier.

DECK USED:  STOLEN CHILD TAROT AND FLOWER FORTUNE CARDS

LionHart’s Reap & Sow Tarot Challenge Prompt
Question: What thoughts, beliefs or feelings are hindering my growth?

 Feelings – Five of Pentacles – Recalcitrance.  The desire to close myself off from others, shirk away from society, and be alone all the time, whether it is healthy for me or not.  This is not healthy, but it is an urge that I feel more often than not.

Beliefs – Transcendence (Judgement) – That I have to do everything perfect and that my mistakes along the way are unforgivable and something that I have to carry with me always.  High expectations and demanding perfection in all things all the time is unhealthy.

Thoughts – The Sun – My perception of fun and play, happiness and success. Perhaps it is all far more simple and far less intense that I seem to always seem to think it’s supposed to be.  Maybe it’s not as big as it at first appears from the outside looking in.

DECK USED:  SHAPESHIFTER TAROT

#DiscordTarotolicsMay2021 Challenge Prompt
Question: What value do you add to the lives of those around you?

7 of Oak – Nurturing care blended with a heavy dose of patience. It really is only with myself that I am an impatient asshole. With others, I have far more patience and with those that live under my roof and I share my space with, that extends a good deal further. Two obvious examples of this include the fact that my sister moved in with me temporarily over a decade ago… and still living here, and then last year our childhood mentor was stuck with nowhere to go after they closed the borders due to the pandemic and has lived here for over a year now, waiting for restrictions to lift so that she can go home.

8 of Oak – Others that depend on me to help them with their own stability also depend on the skills I have spent time honing and perfecting. Spiders are the greatest of all architects, building unique and delicately precise structures in all sorts of spaces and areas. Like all skills, this is something that is part instinct and part practice.  My own skills are much the same, and when I find one that I excel at I use it to support not just myself but those that depend on me as well.

6 of Brine – Emotional support.  I may not be particularly skilled with interpreting and processing my own emotions, but I am a good listener and I have the ability to take in stride other’s emotions help them find the path back to calm once more after the torrent of their emotions has been released.

DECK USED:  STOLEN CHILD TAROT

Although I really didn’t want to, I took a nap.  I wasn’t feeling all that great and the nap seems to have helped. I’m all kinds of bummed that they cut down another tree across the street.  That’s three now, and they cut all the branches off of another one on the side facing the lot that’s being worked on, but at least that tree is still standing.  For the time being anyway.  Although, I think once the building is constructed I won’t be able to see it anymore.