Tag: Debra Givin

Hiss, Criticism & Buttons

#affirmation Today I understand that what I feel is good. What I believe is right. What I need is joy.

Cat's Eye Five of Swords
Cat’s Eye Tarot

#affirmation Today I understand that what I feel is good. What I believe is right. What I need is joy.

I am struggling today. I’ve received some rather repetitive criticism with no offers of help. This isn’t something unusual. I’m quite guilty of it myself. I can see what’s wrong and how to fix it, but more often than not, it’s so much easier to point out where the porch is sagging rather than just grabbing a post to shove under the sag.

And it is a huge button for me, I admit. Tell me what I’m doing wrong, where there are flaws? Fine. But then don’t step back as if you have no ability to help effect change.

Running a group as a collective often fails because only a handful will actually do the work. Then those in the collective get unhappy because their voices aren’t being heard.

If you are in a group, speak up. Speak up to support. Speak up to volunteer. Speak up to point out where things could be better AND volunteer to be one of the ones fixing things.

[Tweet “Don’t just offer an opinion without your energy as well.”]

Sigh. Sorry, y’all. This situation really has me quite riled up.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Five of Swords, Cat’s Eye Tarot, U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

#dailyaffirmation
#seekjoy

Love Letter To Who?

Cats_CupsPageSo today’s card is one that reminds me of things even a child could do. The Page of Cups is that emotional young person who is all about hearts and flowers and youthful emotional expression. A traditional meaning is that someone is going to send you a love letter.

Do you ever write yourself love letters? I’m serious. Just consider it for a moment. Who better to tell you how marvelous you are than the person who spends the most time with you. YOU!

For today’s 180 second challenge, can you commit to dashing off a quick love letter? Maybe just a memo? A post-it note? How about just three words?

I love you.

Some of us will jump right in.
Some of us will drag our heels.
Some of us will refuse because it seems silly.
Some of us will refuse because it hurts to be the only one writing a love letter to ourselves.

And it’s okay. Just face your fears. No one else has to see this love letter. No one else has to know. This is some simple self-care you can do today.

C’mon, darlings! What’s 180 seconds out of your day? Just try it. That’s all I’m asking.

I cooked myself a love letter the other day. Yes, I can see you smiling. I can hear you giggling. But I did.

I had what you might term a trying day at work. My team was recalcitrant. They pushed back at every possible moment it seemed. Customers were particularly difficult with one even exerting the effort to yell at me for three minutes. So I needed some self-love. I needed some me time.

Food is one of my comforts. I was trying to decide if I was going to go to my favorite sushi show when it hit me.

Hamburger gravy over rice.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I had that but it has to have been five to seven years easily. So I went to the grocery store and picked up what I needed. It was so yummy that I wanted to add it to my Tarot recipes collection.

Page of Cups Hamburger Gravy Love Letter

  • 1 lb hamburger
  • 1/2 lg onion (white sweet is my choice), chopped
  • 2 TB garlic (I use the jarred stuff so I can get some oil too)
  • 2-3 TB olive oil
  • 1 TB pepper
  • 1 TB Salt (I use sea salt)
  • 3 TB Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 Family-Sized can cream of mushroom soup (or 3 regular)
  • Cooked rice to serve it over (I am a brown rice fan)

In a large cast iron skillet, heat up 2-3 TB of olive oil. Sauté` the onions until gold (I let mine go a bit brown on the edges.) As you stir this, think about all the love and joy and happiness in your world.

Be happy.

Add the hamburger and brown thoroughly. Sometime in the middle of cooking the beef, add the garlic. Please note that I adore garlic and you may want to back off a titch. Do spoon in some of that yummy oil if you used the jarred variety. As the meat cooks and you stir it, open your soul to the unknown blessings already on their way.

Be joyful.

Add the salt and pepper and stir in well. Now add soup and Worcestershire sauce. Let it come to a simmer. This is a very thick dish so you can add a bit of milk here if you prefer it soupier. As it simmers, speak words of love to you.

Remember that you are a fabulous human being.

Oh! Don’t forget to cook the rice. 😀 I generally start it just after I start browning the hamburger so everything is done about the same time.

I know here is where I should say that I serve this with a green salad or some deliciously nutritious vegetable.

I didn’t. I ate two bowls of this and nothing else. HA! Oh, I do add soy sauce to the dish after serving. That’s me. You may just want to experiment with how much salt you like.

I hope you remember to write (or cook) yourself a love letter. You deserve love. You are loveable. I love you. Want some help finding your joy? Contact me. I can help.

Page of Cups, Cat’s Eye Tarot, U.S. Games
Seek Joy, Y’all! Pass it on!

Balance, Falling & Trust

It’s how we learn. It’s how we grow. It’s how we correct our own course in life. We make mistakes. We hurt others. We hurt ourselves.

Today’s card reminds me of two things. The first is how hard it can be to find my balance. The second is how beautiful it is when I recognize both sides of myself.

This is the Temperance card from the Cat’s Eye Tarot (U.S. Games 2011). As an animal lover, this deck truly appeals to me. As a professional Tarot consultant, this deck reads amazingly well.

These two kitties understand love and trust. Curled up on a seemingly precarious perch overlooking a rocky coast and deep water, they sleep. No fear shudders them awake. No worries about the other one moving keeps either awake. They are in harmony with one another.

In our lives we are often blessed with this gift with another person. My best friend is someone I am in this kind of harmony with. Even when we squabble, I know in my bones that she’s always going to be there for me and me for her.

There’s another person in my life that I need this unity with. It’s myself. There are times when I doubt my worth, fear my success, know I will fall off that thin rail I foolishly stand on.

Trusting yourself can be such a hard thing. None of us pass the age of 20 without having some mistake in our past that leads us to worry that if we can make that bad decision, surely there will be more.

Um, y’all? I’ve got a secret to tell you.

OF COURSE THERE WILL BE MORE!

😀

It’s how we learn. It’s how we grow. It’s how we correct our own course in life. We make mistakes. We hurt others. We hurt ourselves.

The thing we forget to do?

Forgive.

Not the others (although that is very freeing). No, we forget to forgive ourselves. I have a person in my life who hurt me very badly. I forgave her and renewed our friendship. Then she did the exact same thing again to me. I ended that friendship. And it hurt a great deal.

Part of it was because she did such an awful thing to me. But a larger part was that I had done such an awful thing to me. I had trusted this woman to do what she said and mean what she said. She didn’t. She’d been driven to it by others in the community asking why I never came to her home. She’d been basically guilted into it.

Forgive.

I had to forgive myself for being played a fool not once, but twice.

What do you hold on to that throws you out of balance with yourself, darlings? What threatens to teeter you off the rail into the water below?

Love yourself. Trust yourself. Understand that each mistake, each hurt, all of it has been a learning process. You were learning how to correct your own course.

Forgive. Love. Trust.

Find balance today. I love you.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Temperance,
Cat’s Eye Tarot, U.S. Games, 2011

Kittens, Competition & Ethics

That other is reaching up to engage, but what about the third kitten who is looking up? He or she looks scared to me.

Today’s card reminds me that taking a leap shouldn’t be done at the expense of those around me. Traditionally this card is about competition–particularly the type that pits us against others. It’s pretty natural in our species (and others) to want to be Continue reading “Kittens, Competition & Ethics”