We’ve all been there. There’s a situation in your life, and it’s all you can think about.
Your brain flies through all the details, searching, skimming, analyzing, pulling apart, obsessively trying to figure out the answer, often reaching a point of overwhelm and decision paralysis.
Or just numbing out and making a rash decision because of said overwhelm and decision fatigue.
We’ve ALL been there.
Today’s post talks about what happens when we reach this point and how the Tarot can help provide actionable next steps. The post also gives you a DIY exercise you can do if you’re facing a tough situation.
Navigating the chaos
I love Tarot. It’s such a powerful resource for helping others and myself to navigate dilemmas, uncertain situations, and to figure out actionable next steps. Who doesn’t love having more certainty and clear next steps when you’re trying to figure out where to take things?
I’ve also done a lot of readings for others. Recently, I was thinking about common patterns of the questions people ask in readings. I noticed something that I think it really valuable for ALL of us to consider, regardless of our beliefs, practices or life journeys.
Zooming in
People typically ask for a reading when they’re facing a difficult choice. That’s totally natural and shows wisdom, to seek external input in addition to internally working through an issue.
It’s also totally expected that when someone is working through an issue, that their mind becomes so focused on figuring it out, that they “zoom in” on the situation and its factors.
It’s like looking at a photo, noticing a flash of colour in one corner, and zooming in to really take a closer look.
The benefit of zooming in is that you can take in all the tiny flecks of that one detail, and really see its intricacies.
The drawback of zooming into one detail on a photo is that you miss out on the rest of the photo and how that one detail plays into it.
How will you know the role that detail plays into the full picture? What is its importance? And what happened before? After? None of this is information that can be gleaned from a microfocus on just one part of the photo.
It’s the same thing with zooming into a situation. You’ll pick up on all sorts of information by carefully (or obsessively) thinking about a situation. Which is valuable. But how can you empower yourself to figure out your next steps without having context for what is happening around the situation?
Acorn + Burdock
Mistaking a single puzzle piece for the full puzzle
Every single one of us has learned patterns that have served us at some point. It’s how our brains enable us to survive.
But what happens if our supercomputer brain is stuck in an old pattern that no longer applies?
What if we have mistakenly believed that the single puzzle piece we’re staring at is the entire puzzle?
How effective can a decision truly be if we believe there are no surrounding puzzle pieces?
Zooming out
I take my role as a Tarot reader very seriously. My job is to make sure that you receive insights and assistance to develop actionable strategies for your unique situation. I help empower my clients to figure out the next steps that are right for them.
Frequently, the questions I receive for readings are focused on the puzzle piece. Which is completely natural and makes sense.
And as I sit with a client’s question and concentrate on their situation and energy, it’s also my role to design the questions to ask the Universe through the Tarot.
If I were to focus a reading solely on a question that is limited to a puzzle piece, my client will simply have more information about that puzzle piece.
The problem with tough situations?
It’s that we typically ALREADY have LOTS of information.
Simply adding more information to a limited structure is like pouring more water into an already full glass. Sure, you have more water, but it loses its usefulness if you have nowhere else for the water to go.
So part of my role is to take a step back and contemplate the broader question that is often hidden behind the client’s question.
And because I’m all about empowering people, I will typically also pose another question to the Universe during a reading. The question varies according to the client’s unique situation, and is focused on giving them a strategic path forward.
A DIY exercise in zooming out
Here’s an exercise you can do any time to help yourself zoom out, and give yourself an empowering path forward when you’re in a tough spot.
- Grab a journal/journaling app and write a synopsis of the situation you’re facing.
- Now, boil it down to a question that is bugging you about the situation.
- Next, take a couple deep, relaxing breaths. Close your eyes and imagine you’re looking at the situation you’re dealing with. Notice all the details. Now imagine that you’re zooming out to see the bigger photo, just like you would with a photo on your phone. What else do you notice now?
- Sit with that for a few minutes, and then take a bit of time to do some journaling (I suggest free writing!) on all of it. Just let it all flow openly for a few minutes.
And of course, if you find that you’re interested in seeking some strategic advice through the Tarot, you can get an email reading from me easily.
It’s a super simple process and you get clear, actionable next steps and key insights in a beautiful ebooklet.
As always, find what works best for you, and here’s to empowering decision-making!