Today's Draw: Four of Swords—Stabilizing Mind—from the Tarot of Transformation. Is your mind playing the same story over and over like a broken record? Do you feel overwhelmed by a cacophony of thoughts, unable to tie them all together? Do you need Calgon to take you away?
This is one of my favorite decks. The artwork is so beautiful. This is the deck I was talking recently about in the entry about Passion the dog and her messages from the other side.
The woman in the image is trying to find her center in the midst of a swirl of emotions and distractions. That's how I feel in the wake of my brother's death and Kizzie's ongoing recovery as well as in the midst of some changes I've been making. In one sense I feel like I'm there and my focused has returned. But I'm not quite stable in light of some personal health changes I've taken on this week. And part of those health changes rely heavily on maintaining a stable mind. It's a Catch 22...I need to be stable to make the changes, but change makes you unstable...haha.
This card indicates that it's time for a mental retreat. And it relates to some of the stuff we've been talking about this week. Meditation is a good skill to use when examining the things that pollute your spirit. Meditation helps you examine issues as a witness to the situations, thoughts and relationships that drag you down, rather than as a participant in them. From this detached state, you're better able to see how these dynamics work.
Another way to find focus is to completely remove yourself from the mental chaos, then return to it with a fresh mind and perspective. Remember the fish and their message of adventure and play? That's how you can do that.
The one thing that doesn't help you find focus is getting stuck in an endless loop of obsessive thought. In one way or another, you have to break out of the story. You may be surprised at what you find.
We can't always break away the way we'd like and plan a whole weekend or mini vacation around mental rest and retreat. I know summer is always a bad time for that for me because work is usually busy. So I tend to take my days when work hands me a day off, rather than go through all the effort of scheduling a day off. Usually when I tell clients I'm going to be gone for a day or two, they load me down with work before I leave. So sneaking away is more "restful". :)
It also helps for me to schedule mini-retreats....an evening out, a surprise afternoon of shopping or anything else that shakes up the routine and gets me out of the normal rut. I do, however, have one day a month that's a sacred day off, and another late afternoon that's also sacred. Those are my energy healing sessions I've spoken about from time to time.
Anyway, if you have a hard time breaking away, schedule in a mini-retreat, and treat it like a real appointment. And use your surprise moments of rest to focus your mind through meditation, rather than get caught up in the mental chaos. I mean, how many times can you think about the same thing without going crazy?
As a mum of five, three of whom have disabilities, I definitely know what it is to not be able to find time to rest your mind. It's been an especially rough year for one thing and another this year, and in my own personal 'clearing out of clutter', finding time away from it all, whether through meditation, mini breaks, or scheduled days, is something I've been thinking about for a while, now. Thanks for bringing this out and describing it so well, today. Put it back in my mind, again........
ReplyDeleteWow, Meg, that's a lot on your shoulders! And so much more important for you to get those mental and emotional breaks. Not knowing your situation, I wonder if any of the children are old enough to watch the others...or if you have a mom friend you can call on—you take her kids one afternoon a week, then she takes yours an afternoon the next week. Or maybe you make that deal with your spouse, if you have one...he takes care of them a couple of nights a month and visa versa. I know all that must be harder when you have special needs kids, but so critical to keeping your spirit up and giving. (((Meg)))
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