Well, it’s flu season. Swine flu, that is. Everywhere you turn there’s some mention of it and how the powers that be have upped the alert level. I think we’re at the” yeah, it’s killed some folks but don’t worry too much about it cause we don’t want to start a panic” level right now. Weird. It all feels so weird. Should we worry? Do you believe the media? Have you started carrying a travel size bottle of antibacterial gel everywhere you go? Yup!
I have learned a lot from my partner, Nicole(teacher of young children) and my daughter, Louisa (small child with fast hands) about germs, dirt, bacteria and basic hand hygiene. Sneeze into your arm not hands. Always wash hands before eating and remember to push your chair in..wait, that’s table etiquette..sorry. Anyway, having my hands feel like sandpaper is worth the knowledge that I am doing my best to keep the nasty bacteria at bay.
These are very strange times, indeed. Financially, everyone is stressed. Emotionally, people are strung out. And now ,physically, we’re starting to get paranoid. How do we cope? I don’t know but I am tending to think it might just come down to surrender. Not in the lay down and die way. No, in the “I can’t carry this stuff around with me so I’m gonna put it down and let the world sort itself out” way. Seriously, I have been dragging so much crap around in my head and heart lately that the idea of just tossing it all out and walking away sounds really good. Let me be the Fool for a while. Or maybe the Star. Where I can sit and let everything wash out and be renewed. Mmm..that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Just let the universe take the lead for a while. Yeah..surrender is the way to move forward.
After writing that line and then reading it, I realized just how hard it is to surrender to the powers that be. I mean, here I am, trying to segue out of a cleaning business into a full time tarot business and I can only feel how much I need to take control and make things happen. Right now, I’m in the middle of planning a new workshop that I will be teaching at East West Bookshop in Seattle. The name of it is The Tarot Toolbox: What You Need To Read. I am excited and happy to be presenting it. And I know that it’s success lies in my ability to plan, organize and present it with a sense of purpose and passion. But I also understand that there is a component that is out of my hands – how many people show up. It could be 4 or 40. I won’t know until the evening of May 6th. And that, my friends, can be a little anxiety making. I want it to go well and be popular but I also know that trying to impose my will on how many students show up ain’t gonna help. I need to step out of the way, let the universal energy do it’s work and accept the fact that whether it’s 4 or 40 it will be the perfect number..yup, that’s what I gotta do.
So, now, I’ll finish this little foray into my consciousness and go sit out on the porch and surrender to the beautiful spring day.Take a moment to look at the buds on the trees. Maybe listen to the distant traffic and birds. Pick a dandelion or two..and…go wash my hands.