Encouragement Does More

 From the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, the Ten of Swords; from the Tea Leaf Reading Cards, Cherry:

Correction does much, but encouragement does more.

―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The psychologist Albert Ellis said that one of the habits of crooked thinking is "musturbation," when we are driven by irrational shoulds, oughts and demands. I know of three isolated, older women who are constantly compelled to correct people. This tendency doesn't have anything to do with remedying misunderstandings or misinformation, but the drive to bulldoze over any actions or conversations that don't align with their interests, assumptions and opinions. As "experts," they believe it is their duty to straighten people out - not through discussions but through demands or drama. Cherry symbolizes that which is sweet but transient. Why waste our lives blowing up relationships when we could be enjoying them? As Edward Weston wrote, "A lifetime can well be spent correcting and improving one's own faults without bothering about others."

Time Will Turn Things

From the Prisma Visions Tarot, the Wheel of Fortune; from the Secret Language of Color Cards, Cherry:

Life is simple, it's either cherry red or midnight blue. 

―Lou Gramm

Peacocks and snakes are natural enemies; snakes eat the birds' eggs and fledglings, and the peacock will kill and eat the snakes to protect them. Likewise, the Wheel of Life constantly shifts fortunes and the holders of power. No one stays at the top or bottom forever, as change - though sometimes incremental - happens daily. I've been caring for an older, sick cat, a very ill husband, and a daughter with a neck injury. I'm ready to rest, but life requires that I hang in there a bit longer. The Cherry card exhorts us to "Live an extraordinary life." The problem comes in thinking that we should always get the sweet fruit and not have to deal with the pits in life, which is unrealistic. The extraordinary part comes when we aren't consumed by our aversion or craving for whichever one we receive. Time will turn the Wheel.