Healing is Hard

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the King of Water (Cups); from the A'HA Oracle, Omniscience:

Whether we realize it or not, it is our woundedness, or how we cope with it, that dictates much of our behavior, shapes our social habits, and informs our ways of thinking about the world.

―Gabor Maté

Some of us come to realize that the wounds we carry are adversely affecting our relationships and development. Those of us who are lucky find a trustworthy friend or therapist who can help us peel back our layers of defense and begin the process of healing. Often those steps can feel like we are creating more suffering and fear rather than less. The King of Cups/Water models the steadiness we need as he escorts us through those stormy seas. Omniscience (with its seven eyes of clarity) represents having awareness, wide perspective, and understanding. If we are to make progress in our emotional recovery, we must learn to speak of our pain without a concentrated focus on blame or guilt. As Richard Rohr wrote, "To finally surrender ourselves to healing, we have to have three spaces opened up within us - and all at the same time: our opinionated head, our closed-down heart, and our defensive and defended 

body."

Worldly Winds

From the Osho Zen Tarot, Transformation (Death); from the A'HA Oracle, Omniscience:

Endings are generally always transformative; either we open and become more receptive to life, or we shut down and build an impenetrable wall. Even the stubborn - those who refuse to acknowledge an ending - will find no escape, discovering in their clenched fists only dust. The Omniscience card refers to the capacity to know everything. It is like the response of some people to another's loss when they ask, "Didn't you know? Why didn't you do anything before now?" While in some cases there might have been some blind spots, humans are simply incapable of knowing and predicting all things. It brings to mind the Buddhist Four Worldly Winds: Praise and Blame, Gain and Loss, Success and Failure, Joy and Sorrow. No matter how well we sail and navigate life, everyone will have to deal with them regardless of faith, education or science. 

Learning to sail the worldly winds involves learning when we need to give up on our desires, adjusting them to the reality of the situation. Whilst matching our desires to the world will be difficult, expecting the world to match our desires is utterly futile. ~Vajragupta

Glimmers of Light

From the Osho Zen Tarot, the Three of Cups; from the A'HA Oracle, Omniscience:

          Misery does love company, which is why we can always find someone to gripe or rant about a person or situation with us. That quality is a dime a dozen. But what I want is someone who knows how to see a glimmer of light in the darkness and who can find fun or humor in a frustrating situation. I don't want to be an Eeyore, I want to be a Pooh-bear (with a weekend here and there as a Tigger). And I want to hang out with people of the same mindset. Life is too short to spend it raging or whining (and I've done enough of that already). Omniscience means all-knowing, to perceive all things. No one wants to make a bad choice or miss an opportunity, which is why we go to fortune-tellers and read books on how to improve our intuition. But in my opinion, I think that is an impossible goal for humans; I'd settle instead for a bit of clarity. And spending time with the right kind of friends might grant me the ability to see with a wider vision.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. ~Maya Angelou