I saw this post from one of my favorite artists. It reminded me that, even as a therapist, my role is not to “fix” someone or alter their emotions. I can simply sit and offer support.
Adj: (of a person)weak and delicate Easily damaged, fragile.
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Looking at the prompt for @inktober day 8, frail, I’m reminded how I used to equate frail to introverted. It’s often seen as a negative to be less talkative or “shy”. Over the years as a therapist, I’ve learned being introverted does not equate to being frail. Introverted is (for myself) more in line with being empathetic and an attentive listener while still being able to advocate for myself and clients.
As an introvert, I get alot of individuals with louder personalities telling me how to act… I’ve always felt self conscious about not being “loud enough” but I’m starting to love my quiet self.
“So when it comes to developing internal self-awareness, I like to use a simple tool that I call What Not Why.Why questions can draw us to our limitations;what questions help us see our potential.Whyquestions stir up negative emotions;what questions keep us curious.Why questions trap us in our past;whatquestions help us create a better future. In addition to helping us gain insight, askingwhatinstead ofwhy can be used to help us better understand and manage our emotions.”
There was a plan. There had always been a plan. For as long as I could remember, I had everything all figured out - until it wasn’t. Every details was perfect. Every area was noted. Nothing could go wrong as long as I stuck to the plan. I was going to be okay. Everything was going to work out fine - until it didn’t, of course. I don’t even know what happened. I can’t pin point a specific moment where things just fell apart. I just know one moment, I was in the prime of my life, living it up. And, the next moment, everything around me was dark and crumbling to pathetic ashes. What happened to the plan? What happened to following every single detail on the list? What happened to seeing it all through until the end? I had a plan. I was supposed to stick to the plan. I was okay. Everything was going to be fine - until it wasn’t. I had everything under control. I had finally gained my freedom. I was comfortable in who I was becoming. I was confident in my ability to maintain. The world was in the palm of my hand. I had a plan. I had a solid plan for my life…or so I thought. I guess life had other plans for me because this plan that I created…yeah, it’s not going to work out. It’s ruined. And, to my own surprise…I’m not sad about. I’m relieved. Maybe, the plan was supposed to get ruined in order for me to plan my next adventure, afterwards. Because, there was a plan. There has always been a plan.
I wanted to develop a challenge that helps diviners develop core skills that sustain long term practice. Or in less clinical terms, there’s a ton of stuff for newbie card readers but you, my friend, are in this for the long haul. You’re gonna need a strong foundation for when you’re reading cards ten, twenty years from now.
This month we focus on self awareness.
I have trouble putting into words just how important this skill is. Knowing how your perception is colored and limited is key to giving good readings. A reader needs to have a sense of when their personal bias is creeping into a reading. Just went through a break up? You need to know when you’re projecting that unhappiness onto other readings. Just got a new job? You need to know when you’re feeling unreasonably optimistic given the cards in front of you.
For this challenge, you’ll pull two cards. One you select and one you shuffle/draw at random. The goal is to see how closely your perspective of yourself aligns with your deck, to give your deck a chance to check you. Feel to start this challenge whenever you feel like it, well after May even. If you post this somewhere else, please credit me and link to my tumblr if you can. Use the tag “#hillbillyoracle may tarot challenge” for posts so we can all support each other.
1 T – What is your current situation? 2 W – Who are you in your situation? 3 T – What happened leading up to this situation? 4 F – What will happen in the immediate future? 5 S – What is the root of the situation? 6 S – What advice are you getting from gods/spirits/the Universe? 7 M – What talents do you bring to the situation? 8 T – How do the people around you see the situation? 9 W – What are your hopes? 10 T – What are your fears? 11 F – What have you been ignoring lately? 12 S – What should your next action be? 13 S – What lesson are you learning from your situation? 14 M – Who in your life should you make amends with? 15 T – How should you make amends with them? 16 W – What’s the state of your friendships? 17 T – How can you improve them? 18 F – What’s the state of your relationships with family? 19 S – How can you improve them? 20 S – What’s the state of your romantic life? 21 M – How can you improve it? 22 T – What’s the state of your relationship with yourself? 23 W – How can you improve it? 24 T – What’s the state of your relationship with the world around you? 25 F – How can you improve it? 26 S – What the state of your relationship with spirits/gods/The Universe? 27 S – How can you improve it? 28 M – What is holding you back in your spiritual path? 29 T – How can you break free? 30 W – What has changed over the last month? 31 T – What lessons did you take away from the challenge?
‘Value’ is the way one considers importance, worth and usefulness of something or someone. An emotional or monetary consideration is placed, when estimating or appraising value.
How do you value your service to others? Do you base your value based on others, competitors or ‘perceived’ accepted market value? As you consider this, how do you measure your value to yourself? The…
Business and trade are continuous. This is what must take place for the growth, and sustainable survival of communities. There are many ways to achieve an objective, and work is key to all developmental initiatives.
Thinking commercially is applying how business is conducted in an industry, and identifying what needs to be done to convert products/ service offering into a…
“There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas; what’s missing is the will to execute them.”- Seth Godin
There are many things we can brainstorm and think about – and a zillion ways to improve something, via critical thinking. However, the rubber hits the road with movement. A good talk is just good talk. Action is the level all entrepreneurs must aspire to for…
Take time to celebrate your wins. In every tough week there is something to celebrate. Be grateful for the small wins as they help keep you going towards your ‘big success’.
Life in business as employee or business owner or unemployed is still life when you get home. The way you show appreciation for your efforts can manifest in how you feel about yourself.
Judith Anderson’s views about ‘pleasure-bored’ flappers
Judith Anderson cuts a characteristically elegant figure in this portrait from the premiere production of George Kelly’s Behold the Bridegroom (Broadway, 1927-8). The Museum of the City of New York has a production photo featuring Judith and two of her co-stars, John Marston and Thurston Hall.
Judith portrayed a spoiled flapper, Antoinette Lyle, whose undoing proves to be the fact that she possesses every material thing and social advantage one could wish for and yet is entirely dissatisfied with life. Antoinette simultaneously has it all and is empty. Marriage risks becoming just another diversion.
In the press, Judith spoke candidly - and sagely - about the poisoned chalice of privilege, particularly in relation to the 1920s social phenomenon of the flapper. She emphasised that she herself had escaped the curse of the ‘society butterfly’ to find fulfillment in her career (which, by now, was tremendously successful). I find Judith’s comments fascinating; they’re not only enlightening in relation to social history but also point to her good sense and acute self-awareness. It’s fortunate, she concludes, that her father lost his fortune. There’s no fate worse than wealth, it seems.
‘The type of girl symbolized by Antoinette Lyle,’ in Behold the Bridegroom, says Judith Anderson, the play’s star, ‘is universal. I use the word in its purest meaning and I ought to know, for in the last year I have traveled far from the United States and back again. And on every continent, in every city and suburb, I meet the Antoinettes or the near Antoinettes. Not that I have ever known one who died either for self hate or for deep love, but I have known many who have reached the stage of utter boredom with life, complete dissatisfaction with themselves, and perfect understanding of the value of the years they have wasted.
[…]
‘The flapper in the United States has her prototype in Australia. Some time ago some one coined a name for the flapper’s big sister. I think it was “zipper”. They, too, exist in both continents. Rich and unrestrained, they dash through a youth full of pleasure only to approach their 30s blase and disillusioned and a trifle shopworn. When I was of the flapper age in Adelaide, my native town in Australia, I was brought up to be a society butterfly. Like the Lyles, we lived in a community considered smart for our part of the world. And many of the first families had daughters and sons who belonged to a fast set. They wanted to show the English visitors that the colonials weren’t dull and slow. Father was at one time a very wealthy man. He was called the “Silver King” of Australia. I was pampered and spoiled by him and his generosity, just as Mr. Lyle spoiled his daughter in the play. Were it not for a quiet, loving mother and her intelligent direction, I myself might have developed as Antoinette did under the limp disciplinary rod her father wielded.
‘I doubt, however, if I were temperamentally inclined towards such a hectic existence as I lead in Behold the Bridegroom. But children of the rich are prone to develop into selfish adults with a rudeness often mistaken for wit. Fortunately, father lost his money, so we picked up our lares and penates and moved out of the wealthy pleasure-bored set to Sydney, where I started on my stage career.’
Whenever you think your skills are bad or you don’t have enough knowledge yet, say “it’s just a lack of experience”. Experience can be gained, you can always improve if you remember that you have this option.
As a rhythm seeker, I spent much of my life exploring the rhythms of many of the world’s shamanic and spiritual traditions. As I learned the drum ways of various world cultures, I found the same rhythmic qualities underlying all of them. Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole society. Although the focus or intent differs from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum.
The universal power of rhythm is the effects it has on consciousness. Recent studies have demonstrated that rhythmic drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. The physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. This shared resonance integrates conscious and unconscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.
The ethereal rainbow arching high into the heavens symbolizes this harmonious union of intuition and intellect. In her book Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire, Dhyani Ywahoo states, “We are the rainbow, each of us. When we speak of rebuilding the ‘Rainbow Bridge,’ it is to bring into harmony the left and right hemispheres of the brain, to renew the flow of our intuitive mind.”Regarding rhythmic stimulation, she says, “Chanting and drumming were also a significant part of the learning, balancing activity of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.”
In his book Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, anthropologist Michael Winkelman reports that drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing “feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions.”
Brain hemisphere synchronization connects us to the guidance of our own intuitive knowing. Intuition reveals appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Synchronous activity appears within consciousness as the most natural thing to do. One can readily perceive what aims are in accord with the cosmos and not waste energy on discordant pursuits. By allowing the intuition to lead the body, one attains clarity in movement. So long as one follows one’s intuitive sense, one’s actions will be in sync with the true self and ultimately the cosmos.
*pats on the back* Well sister, you ain’t the only one
Me: *sees one (1) TCF meme* Huh, I wonder where this came from One week later: Me: *obsessively researching* So wait, exactly how many times did Cale faint the novel??
