Rethinking Goals

From the Granny Jones Australian Tarot, the Five of Swords:

Uh-oh... What happens when you mix self-righteous anger, an outcome viewed as either win or lose, and a refusal to hear the other side of an argument? You get the Five of Swords, which I've often interpreted as a Pyrrhic victory (a fight won at too great a cost). Yes, I might wrap you tightly with intellectual barbed wire, not allowing you to move an inch, and I might declare myself the "winner." But what gets lost in the fray - relationships, a possible cooperative deal, and a solution to a problem - is more costly in the long run. We've got a meeting today with a prospective buyer for the bankrupt senior home where my mother-in-law lives; I'm thinking I might need to find a roll of duct tape before I go.

From the Button Oracle was drawn the "Viking Ship:"

adventure, exploration, quest

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. ~ Helen Keller

The sail of a Viking ship could strike fear in the hearts of medieval Europeans. These sailors boldly explored near and far as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries. But what would happen if you took that same sort of fearlessness on another type of quest, one that would be a victory for both sides? Perhaps that is the type of adventure I'm to explore as we sail rough, emotional seas at the meeting.