Lockdown has been extended for at least another three weeks in the UK. I’m exceptionally lucky – I have my partner and son at home with me at the moment and we have a lovely garden and (miraculously!) great weather in Scotland. Despite these blessings, like many others, I find a huge swell of fear rises up in me with our 24-hour news cycle that brings endless tides of things to be frightened about.
I am reminded of the Circle of Influence and the Circle of Concern. I am not sure who originated the ideas, but I read it in Stephen Covey’s book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People‘.
If you draw a large circle on a sheet of A4 and fill it with everything that you are worried about, this is your Circle of Concern – that’s EVERYTHING: social isolation, your mother’s health, your finances, global warming …. not being able to buy toilet roll for a month … the PM developing Coronavirus and being hospitalised …. Trump lobbying to open up various States in the US …. you get the idea.
Now draw another circle inside that circle. This one is much smaller. Inside this new circle write only the concerns that YOU can exert any kind of control over. So you can move your finances, your own social isolation … maybe even your mother’s health in some way … into this smaller circle.
The small circle is what you can work on and influence. The other stuff? Not so much. But rest assured that it WILL fall into some other person’s Circle of Influence somewhere. All you can do is work on your own stuff.
So far, so what? You might be asking yourself – you know this stuff already. If you do, great! If you don’t, please explore the idea further because it will help keep you from flipping out during this pandemic.
The additional flavour that I would like to bring to the infographic is how to change the size of that little inner circle. The smaller this circle is, the fewer things in your life you feel that you have got control over. The larger it is, the closer in size to your area of concern, sure, you have more things to be concerned about …. but also with MUCH GREATER INFLUENCE in the world to effect changes.
You might be reading this thinking that you don’t have very much influence. You’d be wrong. Not only can you influence those directly around you, but those that you come into contact with through the internet – your blog, your youtube channel, your facebook page etc.
Look at me! I have not much reach nor much influence in the world, but here YOU are, lovely reader, reading this and – hopefully – gaining a little bit of encouragement or even insight into your own influential reach!
How do the Court Cards help? These 16 cards represent character traits, personality styles, that we can try on and off like clothes in a T K Maxx changing room. Some will be a perfect fit and you can wear them naturally. Others might look hellish on the hanger and require a bit of a contortion to get them on, but once you see yourself in the changing room mirror … you look a million bucks! Who knew that yellow could look so GOOD next to white hair?! *I’m joking. It NEVER does*
So, let’s pull your 16 courts from your deck and give them a good shuffle. Settle your mind as you shuffle. There are no wrong cards. When you feel your mind calming, ask your cards – who helps me increase my Circle of Influence?
Pull a court card! Who did you get?
What’s the first positive trait that springs to mind about this card? Be more THAT to increase your Circle of Influence this week.
What’s the first negative trait that springs to mind about this card? Be LESS that this week to increase your Circle of Influence.
Let’s take a worked example:
I shuffle and the card I pull from my Court Card Arcana is the Knight of Wands:
Alexander Daniloff’s 2012 Tarot
First positive thing that comes to mind when I think of the Knight of Wands – being physically active. This week, get more physically involved in my Circle of Influence.
Social Isolating – I’m allowed to exercise once a day – run every day, just a mile; can I physically assist a neighbour who is socially isolating by getting some basic shopping or picking up a prescription? Could I volunteer to help people?
My Finances – Start getting the paperwork together for my next Tax Return. Yes. Really. Also, I am an Amazon Affiliate, but am increasingly disgusted by Jeff Bezos who is raking in $11,000 PER SECOND during the Covid19 pandemic AND looking for a government bail out to help his employees. CRAZY. The guy is worth BILLIONS. That’s why, as from today, I’m going to be working as a HIVE Affiliate instead of an Amazon Affiliate. Sure, it’s not got the reach of Amazon, but hey, we all have to do what we all have to do to feel better about ourselves.
Look at my Circle of Concern – world hunger – is there ANYTHING that the Knight of Wands could help me with here? I could help support my local food bank – it’s not ending world hunger, but it’s WHAT I CAN PHYSICALLY INFLUENCE THIS WEEK.
The first negative thing that comes to mind about the Knight of Wands is … he’s not much of a deep thinker. This week I can extend my Circle of Influence by thinking more deeply – maybe not flying off the handle at some crazy facebook posts. Maybe not getting myself so upset by them? Gosh, that will most certainly help my mental health if I could do that!
So – there you have it. Using the court cards to help extend your Circle of Influence.
Stay safe, stay sane.
Stop being confused by court cards! Start being excited by the possibilities! Become a court card adventurer along with me 🙂 The Tarot’s Court Cards are my specialist area. They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ….
