Sunday, January 8, 2017
Roll the Dice
This week I'll be using the Cosmic Tarot, created by Norbert Losche and published by U.S. Games. I'll also be drawing from L'Oeil de Lotus (Eye of the Lotus), created by Colette and Gérard Lougarre and published by Vox Arkhana. Today's cards are the Seven of Cups and Chance:
This guy is so overcome by options to choose that he's fallen to his knees. He reminds me of an overly dramatic actor on a telenovela. The longer I live the more I'm beginning to realize that emotional fulfillment is not the same as a temporary pleasure. Joy and contentment are created within me, not from something outside myself. Consider Tom Bodett's words: “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” Notice he does not say someone who loves me and does things for me. I am the lover and the doer; I make my own happiness. Can the act of loving and doing be the reward itself instead of some outcome I'm trying to grab? Chance shows up with a roll of the dice cup to warn me to drop my expectations. No one can accurately predict what will happen and how things will turn out.There's nothing wrong with hope as long as it's not fixed, made of concrete and iron.
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happy is fleeting, joy is in the heart.
ReplyDeleteWell said, my friend. :)
DeleteNice post and good words of wisdom. Similar to my self realization on my work life during my vacation last week.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your post today, I thought we were both headed in a similar direction. :)
DeleteI love how both you and Carolyn are writing about the necessity to take the wheel and drive by yourself, instead of becoming the victim of life :)
ReplyDeleteI do think it is important to realize I have a choice in my actions and attitudes! :)
DeleteThat's a great quote, and I love the focus on self - creating our own happiness whatever the external circumstances. And your words on hope really struck me, too. It can be such a double edged sword (thinking especially of Emily Carding's depiction of the Five of Swords - Hope Discarded http://innerwhisperscouk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/hope-part-2.html). If we hold tight to hope, we are buying trouble. And yet, hopelessness is one of the worst things in the world, specifically researched as such in positive psychology (hopelessness and helplessness). So, a need to balance hope and a feeling of being to affect life with acceptance of what we cannot change and what we cannot achieve, no matter how much hope we place in it.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the rant, it coincides with my morning reading, in a way...
Hope is one of those very tricky things. To hope for change is probably safe, because we know the nature of the world is impermanence. But when hope has specifics tied to it, it can be like filling our pockets with lead and trying to swim.
DeleteGood lord woman, what time do you get up in the morning!?
Don't worry, that clock was wrong. It was 6.45am my time, though I had been more or less awake since the toddler woke with a nightmare about giants at 4.05am *doh*
DeleteYeah, hope pushes my buttons. I stil react to it, after having hopes I didn't even realise were hopes dashed. Hopes that were just what most people take for granted, when my elder boy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy...
Four a.m. is even early for me and the cats!
DeleteI can't imagine having a child with an illness that isn't curable. Though having one with a mental illness gives me a small peek into what you must feel. When it comes to your kids, it is hard not to hope for specific things. Hugs to you my friend.