The Real Challenge

From the Idiosyncradeck Tarot, the Queen of Swords; from the Answer Deck, Challenge:

          The tiny sapling that was in the Page card has now grown into an adult-sized tree. The Queens of tarot are all nurturing givers in different ways, depending on their suit.  The star-shaped blooms on this tree are the gift of the Queen of Swords - her words shine a light in a dark corner we might prefer not to see. This woman's honesty is not meant to wound but rather to help. If we choose to take her insights to heart, we can get unstuck and move forward. Yet the Challenge card shows how the objective truth can chafe the ego. It's easy to brush off her words of wisdom and label them as ignorance or spite. Researchers have even shown that facts don't necessarily change entrenched beliefs. My task is to learn how to separate assumptions and beliefs from facts, regardless of whether it backs up my ideology or not. Now that's a real challenge.