Successful Sunday, November 10th, 2024

Hi, Subscribers. How was it last week? As your guide, I'm here to remind you that incorporating play into your daily routine can do wonders for your creativity, problem-solving skills, and overall well-being. It's not just about personal and professional growth but also about finding joy in the journey. Let’s set ourselves up for success and inspiration and remember to find joy in every step of our development.

It’s time for an accountability check-in. Today I slept in ??until the kids checked my breathing ??. My PowerBI project was well received and drove good conversation. I’ve done no work on my painting project. It was a rough week and there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Like many of the women in the Global Majority, I’ve chosen to lean into joy. The kids and I went to Small Print Festival yesterday and my eldest found the perfect shirt to encapsulate this moment in time. It says, “THE HORRORS ARE NEVER ENDING, YET I REMAIN SILLY.” Now more than ever, we need the release that play and rest provide.

I want to explore how to feel empowered and will use Chris Anne’s “The Light Seer’s Tarot” as inspiration. Many of my friends and myself feel dismissed. People don’t recognize our collective brilliance. “If trying harder doesn’t work, try softer.” – Lily Tomlin This week’s questions will come from the app “The Language of Letting Go.” “What do we need?” The Four of Cups Reversed has a dejected light-skinned woman with blonde hair utterly detached from her surroundings. Someone is offering her a cup and she ignores it. There is a tree on a hill against a blue sky in the background. What we need depends on our community or identification. Many people are focusing on everything that is wrong. There are many empty cups next to the girl which could be indicative of trying many ways to ease the numbness. Maybe we need to sit with our feelings. It is easy for me to look at this picture from the outside and guess that she needs to see the literal tree. Life doesn’t work that way. We are all on our own journey: the proverbial alone in a crowd.

“Are those needs getting met?” The next card is the Tower. A lightning strike sets the forest on fire. Monarch butterflies flee and a squirrel looks up at the scene as its acorns catch fire. I’ve seen a lot of dumpster fire imagery and verbiage about looming threats. My brilliant friend Sara June wrote about a prairie fire in her Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/posts/draft-of-soon-to-110643314?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=web_share . In the article she observes “A prairie without fire is like those people who have an easy life and who have no strength to cope with disturbance.” Maybe we don’t get what we want, but what we need. Many people need this fire to be shaken out of complacency and disbelief. Many people in the Global Majority have never had their needs met.

“What do we feel?” The next card is a 9 of Cups Reversed. A joyful Black woman with shoulder length curly hair wearing a white shift dress is plucking from a tree of Pentacle fruits on which a bird has alighted. Since the card is reversed, I personally feel blocked from the fruits of my labor. My incredibly talented friend Robin Divine who is exhausted is also trying to create spaces where we can feel care and a respite. I feel frustration that her voice and many others seem to be screaming into the void. If you want to feel like you are doing something, you can support her or other Black creators. Tis the season and she has some fantastic curated guides available for purchase: https://www.patreon.com/c/povertysucks/shop . I often feel that what I want is out of reach. I’m definitely feeling like the girl with the cups and her “why bother” energy.

“What do we need to do to take care of our feelings?” The Queen of Wands reversed is a joyful Black woman with shirt curly hair. She is sitting cross legged surrounded by candles holding a wand high and smiling at the flame in her outstretched palm. My friend Ekua Cant reminds me of this high energy lady since she encourages us to be bold and marvelous. https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/make-your-profile-stand-out/ We need to sit with our feelings and process them to be able to take sustainable action. Otherwise we may flicker our have our light blown out by the wind. This Queen seems to sit in a bubble of confidence surrounded by her creativity and passion. Many of my friends are turning inward and doing things that bring them joy. Art has always been my respite and it’s something I have neglected these past weeks.

“What are our feelings telling us about ourselves and the direction we need to go?” Our final card is the Ace of Cups. There is a tan person holding a cup filled with a glowing heart. Kind of like a fancy coffee with latte art. We need to go in a new direction. What we’ve been doing has not been working. Since the heart is so prevalent, whatever we do, we need to lead with love. Love is not singing Kumbaya and getting over it. It’s practicing self-care within community. You will have to decide for yourself what community means to you. For me, it’s people who are cheering for us to win. It’s people who realize that none of us are free unless all of us are free. I keep going back to the girl with the cups because I also feel perhaps she is experiencing the burnout of not being enough. All of these cards have powerful, talented, joyous women. I’m going to lead with joy and be as silly as I want to be. The court jester may seem the fool, but they are one of the few people who could tell the truth without being beheaded. Namaste.

Parents! If you want to get closer to your pre-teenagers or kids in their early teens, check out my Thirty Days to Connect challenge. It contains thirty simple and effective challenges that you play your own way. https://buy.stripe.com/28o3eXfRR3rwcc86oy

If you want to incorporate more play to help you deal with the heavy things, my current offerings are listed on my Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/thingstothinkabout . I also encourage you to share your experiences and strategies with the community. Your voice matters, and your journey can inspire others.