Today's meditation was on resilience and rest. The big thing was really challenging the modern conception of "resilient". Typically, we think of someone who can just keep going, despite all their limits, despite what damage it does. But, is that really resilient? Maybe in the short term, and only if we're looking at what that person can *accomplish*

But that's not really building the deeper personal resilience that comes from learning and respecting your limits, taking time to *truly* rest and recharge, and put in the effort to build that well of internal reserves to draw on.

Nine of Lotuses: Sacrifice

The reading in the book on this card digs into the nature of sacrifice, and how that around the era of the Buddha, several different cultures were moving away from animal sacrifice to a more intellectual/personal/spiritual sacrifice. Instead of sacrificing physical things (possessions/livestock/money), sacrificing behaviors. Adhering to a moral code (any of them), requires a sacrifice of your desires.

Tying this into the meditation and applying it all personally, I find myself thinking on the question "what are we sacrificing, and for whom?".

#dailytarot #tarot #buddhatarot

Today I am filled with calm, and with gratitude. I'd like to think its from a few weeks of regular practice. But I also don't want to analyze it too much. Its a state of being, and I am going to experience it in the moment. If anything, my practice is giving me tools and skills to better access and appreciate the calm when it occurs, and to get back to it when life is more challenging. I am grateful for the time I've spent, and I'm grateful for you for coming on this journey with me each day.

Unlike most of my decks, which I keep all together on a shelf (I intend to do a posting about that later), I keep my Buddha Tarot setup with my statue and singing bowl. I don't engage with it every day, but its there.

Amitabha: The Buddha of Lotuses - Mastery of the feeling function. The ability to experience our emotions without being ruled by them

For me, from the place I started, Buddhism, meditation, tarot, all of my practice has been seeking this. It represents a liberation from the cycle of reactivity that we are all caught in. Something happens, and we react. But, what if we could learn to take a breath. Just one breath. And then respond instead of react? Reactions are primal. Built it. Responses are considered, measured. The journey inward is one looking for that moment. For the opportunity to choose.

In many ways, every challenging choice we make is an act of rebellion. Authenticity over conformity. What is right over what is easy. Responding over reacting. These are rebellious acts, going against the stream of the world.

Be a rebel, go against the stream, respond.

#tarot #dailytarot #buddhatarot

I'm in a very reflective mood recently, and so I felt called to dip back into my Buddha Tarot deck. It offers a perspective that is both wildly different than traditional tarot, while also still very much in keeping with how I use it in my daily practice. Its a fascinating combination of two different tool sets that I use individually in my own journey.

Two of Double Vajras: Love, attraction, awakening, enlightenment

The reading for this card is kind of all over the place. But that's OK, that means there's a lot here to work with. The various meanings seem to come together all pointing to an awakening to new perspectives. Ideas rising from our unconscious minds, shifts in perspective as we fall in love, spiritual growth. Its a step along the road of becoming.

And really, isn't that the road we're all on? Becoming ourselves, a day at a time?

#dailytarot #tarot #buddhatarot

Today I am trying a deck for the first time. Its not new, I got in several months ago. But I've been intimidated by it, both physically and with how thick the guide book is. This is called "The Buddha Tarot", which combines two things I try to bring in to every day. I've held off digging into this one because I want to give it the time and respect needed to really get something out of it. But, today just feels like the day. So here we go

Physically, these cards are almost impossibly large, but comfortably shaped and a good thickness and card quality. The art is of a simple style, which I appreciate.

Akshobhya - The Buddha of Vajras: Wisdom, Confidence, Mastery of thinking functions, air.
Mapping this onto more traditional tarot, this would be the King of Swords/Air, and based on the story presented, they matched this up well.

The story presented about Akshobhya is of a philosopher, a lover of wisdom. And what is wisdom? Knowledge tempered with experience. I've had multiple opportunities in the past few weeks to reflect on how much I've grown with respect to experience over the last decade of my career. This has been brought into stark contrast meeting younger professionals and seeing a younger me standing there. It highlights my own naivete, and makes me even more grateful for all the people who have helped me grow through it.

#tarot #dailytarot #buddhatarot