Are You Too Negative? Positive thinking with Tarot cards
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Summary: Eliminate the destructive habit of negative thinking with a simple tool --- a deck of Tarot cards.
Total words: 750
Category: Motivation
Are You Too Negative? Positive thinking with Tarot cards
Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth
Note: this article assumes that you own a deck of Tarot cards, and have some elementary knowledge of how they're used as a self- help tool. If you don't own a Tarot deck, this article may inspire you to discover yourself in the cards. You can buy a deck at any large book store, or from Amazon.com.
The problem with negative thinking is that we accept our negative thoughts as reality. We don't realize that the thoughts are distortions. I was a classic negative thinker: to me the glass was not merely half empty, it was also chipped. I called my negativity "being realistic".
Tarot helps me to see the positive. Because, no matter how black things look, there is always a positive.
If you've seen the Tom Hanks movie, "Cast Away", you remember that Tom Hanks is Chuck, the only survivor of a plane crash who gets marooned on a deserted tropical island. After years of solitary hardship, Chuck almost gives in to despair and commits suicide, but he tells himself to "keep breathing".
Finally a piece of wreckage washes onto the island. Chuck creatively fashions it into the sail of a raft. Later in the movie, Chuck says you should keep breathing because "you never know what will wash in on the tide". "Keep breathing" is the cure for negative thinking. You truly don't know what will happen next.
A thought is just a thought
We negative thinkers tend to worship our thoughts. It takes us a long time to realize we're not our thoughts. Our thoughts come and go. If we don't cling to them, or follow them, they fade away and are replaced by new thoughts, pleasanter ones. Meditation helps with this.
Over time, when we can watch our thoughts come and go without becoming enmeshed in them, we can (occasionally) recognize a negative thought. For me, being able to label a thought 'negative' was a major achievement.
Does this mean that I've won the battle and that I will never again have a negative thought? No such luck. I still have negative thoughts, and it's hard not to be trapped within such thoughts. However, I'm learning to get off the negativity treadmill.
Your cards can help you get positive
Try
this "Negative to Positive" process. You use your cards face up. Here's how:
1. Sort through your deck until you find a card which portrays your current situation. For example, let's say you have some money worries. If you're using the Universal deck, or the Rider- Waite, you might choose the 5 of Pentacles.
2. Now look through the deck again, until you find a card which shows a scene where your money worries are solved. Perhaps you picked the 10 of Pentacles. A much more cheerful card!
3. Put the 5 of Pentacles on the left, and the 10 of Pentacles on the right, in a straight line. Leave some space between the two cards.
4. Now it's time to daydream a little. Pick out several more cards, perhaps two or three, showing a progression from the misery of the 5 of Pentacles, to the security of the 10 of Pentacles. Choose whichever cards you please.
5. Lay the cards out in a straight line.
6. If you have a little time, you could write a short story, based on the cards, of what could happen to you to take you from the 5 to the 10. The story can be as fantastic (in the fantasy sense) as you please.
7. Or, make a sketch of the 10 of Pentacles, which you can carry with you as a good luck charm.
8. OK --- you've spent 20 minutes or more with the cards. Do you still feel negative? I'm sure your mood has shifted.
Positive energy from the cards
Look through your deck, and choose the cards which you find most positive from the major arcana. You might choose 19 the Sun, 7 the Chariot, and 21 the World.
Put one of the cards on the desk in front of you. Close your eyes and do some slow, deep breathing for a few minutes until you're completely relaxed.
Open your eyes, and look at the card. Pick it up and hold it. You may be able to feel a subtle energy. This is the energy of the card, as it exists in you.
Try the same process with the other two cards. Is there a difference in the energy? How does the energy of one card differ from another?
Next time you have a black mood, pick out one of your 'positive' cards, and just relax with it for a few moments. You'll feel your mood change.
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Author and journalist Angela Booth writes copy for businesses large and small.
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