Aim First!

Hi! I hope your week's begun well ... and, speaking as an ex-New Orlean's person ... WHO DAT!!! Been waiting over 40 years to say that and really mean it -- that Super Bowl was really, really nice! Great game, too -- much closer than the score suggests. If one or two plays had gone the other way, the outcome would have been different.

I've had an interesting couple of weeks -- am just getting back from an unexpected trip to Tel Aviv! Really a nice place, nothing at all what I expected from watching US news.

Tel Aviv's a vibrant, modern, and clean city sitting right smack on the Mediterranean ... which means they've got a beach downtown! I felt safer walking around Tel Aviv than I do when I walk around many US cities! Looked and felt a lot like walking around a town in California. It was kind of hard with the time zone differences and the horrible jet lag (coming home, I left at 8:00am and got back home in Houston at 1:00am the next day!)

Delievered my gypsy wagon to the Renaissance Festival yesterday -- I'm amazed at the amount of contructon they have going on. The last time I saw the site, it was basically just woods -- now it looks almost like a Disney village (I mean that in a good way)! I'm not real good at towing a wagon and was crossing my fingers that I didn't find myself in a tight spot and having to back up to manuever. So ... of course I find part of the road blocked and have to do a whole bunch of tricky backing up to make a U-turn on a one-lane road. Not fun at all!

How about we get on to the reading -- we'll again pull two cards -- the first suggests something we should focus on for the week. The second suggests things we might consider in order to fully benefit from the attributes of the first card. Our cards this week are:




Knight of Swords



Judgement
(Reversed)







I'm sure I've said this before -- whenever I see the Knight of Swords, the phrase I think of is "Ready, Fire, Aim!"

This card is loaded with energy and is chomping at the bit to take on any issue. Energy is good, readiness is good, attitude is good -- but sometimes a little direction would help out. That's the weakness of this card -- without direction, a whole lot of action may take place ... but the issue may remain unresolved.

The trick of harnessing this Knight is to temper it with guidance and direction -- slow it down, have a plan, track progress. Try to change "Read, Fire, Aim" into "Ready, AIM, Fire"!

Let's see what suggestions our second card have for us. Judgement suggests compassion, open-mindedness, and fairness. Judgement is willing to look at all sides of a question and to try to honestly understand all involved viewpoints. It's only by carefully and fairly weighing these factors that a fair judgement is possible.

Being reversed, it's possible that we'll have troubles trying to fairly see all sides of an issue. Perhaps we're stuck to our own opinion and are closed to considering opposing viewpoints? Perhaps personality issues become involved and block us from considering fair alternatives? Perhaps we're attributing unreal reasons for competitors stands? Can you put yourself in your opponents position and see his position from his side? Maybe if you fairly try to do so, you'll see his reasons have value? Maybe he's not taking that stance because he's an argumentative blockhead! (well, okay, maybe he is ... but that doesn't mean his position isn't realistic!)

It's only after you view an issue from all sides that you can honestly say you understand the issue. And ... you really can't come up with a reasonable plan to address an issue without understanding it first. Try and do so -- and then you can turn loose that Knight of Swords!