Present Path Tarot
Navigate to your best life
Tag: mental-health
Make a Meaningful November
There’s something about the hullabaloo of summer followed by the resettling of September running right into the Halloween costumes of October (which is a busy month for tarot readers) that just makes me grateful to arrive at November.
I feel like November is a time to catch my breath before the swirl of hectic December holidays.
In the same way that we make intentions for a new year, let’s make some intentions for this month ahead.
Defeating Your Draggin’ Dragon
Over the last two weeks, I have finally completed a project that I procrastinated for over 3 years. I am relieved and exhausted.
During the long era of paralyzed delay, the anxiety around my failure to take action on it felt like a tight grip around my chest. Whenever the subject was brought up, I would slip into a shame spiral of sighs and grumbles.
Sometimes you swirl around in avoidance of a task, only to find that it is way easier and less time consuming than you expected.
This was not that case.
Brave Your Emotions
Emotions can be uncomfortable and hard to lean into.
One morning, I woke up angry next to my then partner. It wasn’t even from a recent fight so much as an accumulation of frustrations.
I wanted to gather my things and leave and let myself be angry at him without discussion.
But, then it happened . . . the cat laid on me.
Obviously I now had no choice but to stay there and feel my anger.
The Gentle Way Through Overwhelm
I often overbook myself, take on too much, and resist pulling out of any commitments when I realize I am past my limits.
My German mom and workaholic dad taught me to just push on through the overwhelm. I am grateful for the fortitude they instilled in me, but I am trying to learn a new way.
I want to make different choices when I get this drained and fried out.
So I got up, and put away the tools and work gear. I tidied up the mess from the partially done big task. I accepted that it would reside in limbo.
This felt like a big shift for me. I didn’t push through. I backtracked. I paused. I prioritized my focus on one zone to manage, instead of spreading myself too thin.
Forgiveness is a Journey
“There is no revenge so sweet at forgiveness.” – Josh Billings
This is one of the hardest subjects to approach, since I myself struggle with it regularly.
Many of us are very hard on ourselves, and that makes us harder on those around us.
Memories of past hurts can reignite our negative feelings. This in turn physically raises our stress levels in the present moment.
Today, I want to soften my resentments for thesake of health andI welcome you along in my own personal research.
To be clear, if you faced a deep trauma, it would be best for you to work through that pain with a therapist. These suggestions are meant for more simple or general hurts, rather than deep wounds.
Decompress in Weird Ways
Last week, I saw the Pixar film, Inside Out 2, which I loved. The story highlights the good and bad aspects of anxiety in a unique and fun way, and got me thinking about my own mental mechanisms.
Life is stressful. We can’t really avoid that if we want to accomplish our higher goals, love people around us in their challenges, and stay healthy and secure.
In the film, the character of Anxiety is not inherently bad. She is even wise in some ways. She becomes a problem when she takes too much control or goes into overdrive.
Anxiety can be managed through direct practices, regardless of the problem that created the tension.
We all know about how breathing tricks, exercise, and getting enough sleep can help. But I wanted to share some more oddball ways of resetting the mind with the body.
How to Help Life Suck Less
Scrolling through Reddit this week, I came across a post on r/ask simply titled, “Does Life Suck? Why / why not?”
People gave all variety of answers, from long pep talks to short, sullen statements to philosophical meanderings.
It got me thinking about how both are inherently true, life has lovely aspects and awful aspects, and we are all going to get a mix.
The real question is how to make life suck less.
It’s different for each of us, but here are some of my personal tried and true ways . . .
Let Go to Let In
Today, I hope you’ll consider one area of your life that needs a little clearing up. It can be physical, mental, emotional, or energetic.
For any form of clearing, we start with attention.
What feelings need felt to let them move through you?
What thoughts need better noticed when they come up so we can pause and transmute them into a healthier version?
Where are we putting our energy too often that isn’t replenishing us enough?
What area of our spaces feels stagnant and cluttered?
Anxiety is a Beast: Tips to manage
This week, I had a little getaway planned with a group retreat. Sounds lovely, yeah?
Well, there was a snowstorm a few days before leaving. I only knew two of the 40 people going. I also had to put a lot of work on pause.
This combination created it’s own little perfect storm. Driving anxiety, social anxiety, and workaholic guilt all collided in my nervous system.
As many of us do, I wrestle with angst. Throughout my life, I have worked very hard to build tools to manage it that I want to share with you here.
Present Path Tarot 