Today's Draw: The Knave of Coins from the Minchiate Firenze. Do you ever consciously do things to raise your energy? How about doing something purposely to raise the moods of others? Do you realize the impact you have on those around you?
Minchiate is a Medieval card game with a deck similar to tarot. It has 97 cards, as opposed to tarot's 78. This particular deck is a reproduction of one created in 18th century Florence. The book describes the Knave of Coins as being "a young woman who creates situations that bring happiness."One of the things on my facebook feed yesterday was a flyer one of my friends saw in her Starbucks. You know those flyers people make with the little pull-off strips that usually have their phone number on them? Well, it was one of those. Only it didn't have phone numbers.
The flyer itself looked like a wanted poster. It had a picture of Lionel Ritchie and the headline "Hello. Is it me you're looking for?" And the little pull-off strips each had a different phrase from the song written on it. "Are you somewhere feeling lonely?" "Or is someone loving you?" And so on...haha. So there was absolutely no reason to post this flyer other than to give someone a chuckle. And some of the strips had been torn off, which made it even funnier, imo.
Doing something like this not only makes other people smile, but doing it also makes you smile. It's a win-win situation. I'm more inclined to one-on-one random acts of kindness, like complimenting a stranger on their clothes or anonymously picking up a stranger's tab at a restaurant. But that post today reminded me that we could go global with something like this. Well, global might be a little ambitious, but say that flyer affected only 20 people this morning. And those 20 people smiled at three random people because the flyer raised their energy. And those 60 people were given a little hope from that smile and passed that energy along to three people. Now we're talking hundreds of people a little high on happy juice. And the snowball keeps rolling.
This is the second post this week (out of two) that talks about raising your energy. And what that means is starting wherever you are and taking it up a few notches. If you're depressed, lift it up to "a little blue". If you're a little blue, raise it up to so-so. It's a misconception that we're slaves to our emotions. We've all experienced the way music, taking a walk or talking to a friend can lift our spirits. You can probably rattle off a dozen other things that do that for you off the top of your head. Lifting your spirits even just a notch has the same exponential effect as that flyer on others. Think about it. Everyone you come into contact with is colored by your energy and vice versa. Change your energy and it changes everything in your path. And if someone's energy threatens to drag you down, resist that with the same tools you have to lift your spirits.
Now, sometimes we need to feel sorrow or anger or fear. And some people like to live in misery for one reason or another. But most of the time most of us would like to feel better and it's important for us to remember we have that choice. And the choice we make not only affects us, but everyone we touch and everyone they touch and so on.
What do you suppose would happen if more people walked around like they knew this? What do you suppose would happen if YOU walked around like you knew this? You can't expect to always be conscious of this. But now that the seed is planted—or you're reminded—try it out today or sometime soon. It's amazing how powerful just looking someone in the eye and smiling can be to set off a chain reaction of goodwill—for others AND for yourself.
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