Getting Off the Repeat Cycle

From the Gill Tarot, the Hermit; from The Circle, Partnership:

There's a huge difference between experiences like silent meditation retreats and vision quests as opposed to self-help seminars. In the first two, there is the spiritual purpose of contemplation that involves insight, decluttering the mind and letting go of old patterns. The seminars are all about adding more ideas (or products) to make us a happier or more successful person. Someone tells us what we need to do or think to be 'better' (self-reflection is rarely involved other than whether we can put all this on our credit card). But it makes more sense to clean out a dirty, crusty pot before adding anything new that might get contaminated by the old. Partnership brings this into the realm of relationships, suggesting that if we don't take the time to contemplate our choices and their results, we'll just continue to repeat them.