Bad News Might Be Good News

Hi!

Hope your week has gone well -- we've been keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Dorian over here.  Looks like it might head into the Gulf.  Don't think it's going to be a strong one, though.

Been going over my hurricane stash, just in case.  I grew up in Louisiana, so I know all about being prepared for hurricanes.  You don't wait till the last minute and then rush to the store with 57 million other people and try to buy stuff -- you take care of things before hand.  Have lots of food, water, fuel, generators, etc already stocked up.  Problem is, my stash gets moved every now and then so I'm not 100% sure where everything is.  Need to review that so I don't have to go looking for things in the dark.  Just in case.

Actually, on my side of Houston, we're not in that much danger.  We're about 50 miles from the Gulf, so storm surge isn't an issue.  We might catch some wind damage, but that's about it.  Power loss and fuel shortage are the biggest worries ... and we've got that covered already.

If you're in hurricane territory, I hope you're getting your preps ready!  Don't wait till the last minute!

How about a reading for this weekend?  Once again, we'll pull two cards.  First card sets the tone for the reading, second card suggests how we can best turn it to our advantage.

Our first card is -- The Three of Swords.

Some people think The Devil -- or perhaps Death -- are the worst cards in the deck.  Nope -- to me, it's the Three of Swords.  I've since had a change of opinion -- it is a powerful card, but if you use it properly, you can take advantage of the message.

The Three of Swords suggests heartbreak or great sadness.  Not a very encouraging message, right?  My change of opinion on this card comes from what this really means.

For instance, something that a teenager might claim would "wreck my life" might not affect an adult one bit.  It's how you perceive a situation that makes the difference.  A situation you might feel is eventful might not be so if you view it in a different manner.

We might look at this card by thinking of events that have made us sad -- maybe layoffs, breakups, lost friendships ... things like that.  None of these sound very good, do they?

Or do they?  What do we learn from events like these?  Do they make us stronger people?  Do they help us better prepare for future mishaps?  Do they help us focus on the things that really count rather than on superficial things?  If we look at it this way, a sad event might turn out to be extremely helpful to us.

What helps us perceive things in this manner?  Well, experience and a cool head helps.

Which brings us to our second card -- The Hermit!

The Hermit is the wise old hermit -- he's wise because he has knowledge, experience, and patience.  He's even-handed and is not going to go running around in circles if he receives bad news.  He knows that life simply happens -- and sometimes it's good, sometimes it's hard.  That's just life -- no need to take it personal.

When things happen -- no matter good or bad -- we can learn from them.  It's the "learning" that's important -- so the Hermit isn't going to waste an opportunity.  He'll take advantage of any event in order to build his experience and become a more complete person.

And that's an approach that may work best for us.  When we receive bad news, we can let it wreck us -- or we can learn and grow from it.  It's our choice -- and with a little help from the experienced Hermit, we can make the right one.

Hope you have a great weekend!  See you next week ...

Woodsong