Category Archives: Life’s lessons

A puzzling dilemma

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I’d like your opinion on this little hypothetical story:

Let’s say one morning, you discover that you are about out of toothpaste and toilet paper and you decide you must make a trip to the store. You make a list of a handful of other cleaning products and paper goods that you are low on, dress as warm as you can as it is a frigid cold day and off you go.

This is not the book in question, although it looks quite similar.

After you check out, get the whole way across the parking lot, and empty the cart of your purchases in your trunk, you discover a puzzle book at the bottom of the cart that you had selected inside the store, but never gave to the cashier to ring up.

It registers in your mind that you had picked out this little puzzle book upon entering the store because it was on sale for one dollar. And, you know you didn’t pay for it.

You want the book, but you really don’t want to walk back across the lot into the store, to wait in line again to pay the cashier one measly dollar (with your credit card, no less, because you have no cash on you).

So, you throw it in your trunk and bring it home with the rest of your stuff.

Later, you contemplate what your actions really say about you.

So, what do you do? Do you take the book back to the store tomorrow, tell a little lie, like, “When I got home, I discovered this item wasn’t on my receipt?” (Gosh, you wouldn’t tell the truth, would you?) and pay the dollar OR just forget about it?

By the way, this story is not about me. This happened to a friend of a friend.

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The story of the five balls

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jugglerI have been asked numerous times over the last several years why I quit my job as a newspaper editor to become a bookkeeper.

In order to give you an answer, I must tell you the story of the five balls.

The story of the five balls comes from the book, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, by James Patterson

This is the storyof the five balls:

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls-family, health, friends, integrity-are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

I truly loved my job as editor of two community newspapers. I thought what I did was important. You see, newspapers are vital to the life of the community. They provide useful information to their readers such as when highway repairs will be completed, or what time the band concert will be, or what day the library is holding its story time, or when the community will be holding its craft show, yada, yada.

Newspapers are also the official record for births, deaths, graduations, engagements, weddings, business openings and closings, etc.

Newspapers cover governmental meetings and police beats. Newspapers write about the crime in the area and about the little old lady down the street that skydived for her 80th birthday.

So, I loved my job. The problem was that I had a super small staff, so I was constantly on the go attending events, writing stories, laying out pages, selling advertising, etc. I typically worked 70+ hours a week.  Oh, I realized I shouldn’t have, but I believed the job was that important. I had to give it  my absolute best to make it the wealth of accurate information that I thought it should be.

So, even though I knew the story of the five balls, even though Brian and I gave up corporate jobs earlier and moved to the country to get some sanity back in our lives, I neglected to heed the lesson because I loved my job. And, the harder I worked to keep that work ball in the air, the worse my health became. And, I had no time for family or friends. I neglected the people most important to me and I ignored the house and ignored the garden and rarely had any fun living.

So, after much consideration and cajoling from those who loved me, I finally quit.

 And, although I still stay very busy, my life finally has balance.

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A tarot reading

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I wrote about my friend, Graham Gudgin, in a post about a month ago. He gave a very thoughtful interview about what it is like living in the United States as a British expatriate.

In one question, we discussed his tarot card readings. Shortly after that interview, I had him do a tarot reading for me and in today’s blog, I’m going to share it with you.

According to his tarot website, http://foucault.tarot.googlepages.com/, Graham follows the Marseilles tradition of reading tarot. In the Marseilles tradition, the meanings of the cards are not as pre-defined as in some other methods of tarot reading. Specific cards can have different meanings, depending on their circumstances, such as where cards fall when they are dealt, or the questions asked of the tarot reader. Additionally, the Marseilles tradition is very visual. The meanings (within the context of the reading) are based on the pictures upon the cards.

Graham does not claim to be psychic and says his readings deal with where people are right now and how that might have a bearing on their future.

Graham does not charge a set fee to do a reading. You email your question to foucault.tarot@gmail.com, he does the reading, sends you a reply, and you pay him what you think is appropriate within your means.  It’s really simple!

Graham believes tarot works best when he is asked specific questions, so I formulated my question and sent him an email.

Here is my original question:

“I would like to start a side business using an acre or two of my land. I’ve been thinking about possibly propagating all kinds of plants to sell OR growing berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). I can’t seem to develop either idea and am wondering if you may be able to tell me which one might be best to pursue? Or, if I should look at a side career using my other talents in speaking/writing field?”

Graham helped me rephrase my question to this, “What would be the best path for Cindy to pursue in order to earn a secondary income?”

Here is his reading:

Graham drew the following cards: LEMPEREUR, LE FOU, LA MAISON DIEU

the-emperorHe said, “In LEMPEREUR (The Emperor) we see a man looking rather pleased with himself. He has placed his shield on the ground, so he obviously feels safe and secure, and he’s busy looking at his reflection in the scepter he’s carrying. He looks like the Lord of his domain! He’s so busy looking at himself, that he’s unable to see…

 

 

 

 

the-foolLE FOU (The Fool), in which we see a man eagerly and confidently striding ahead. He looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but look closer! He seems to be in a rather exposed state, and a creature with sharp looking claws looks about to take advantage! Still The Fool strides on, towards impending danger.

the-house-of-godThe impending danger is depicted in LA MAISON DIEU (The House of God). We see a tower that is in the process of being destroyed. Two people have fallen from the tower amid an explosion of colored disks that look a lot like money to these eyes!”

Graham then goes on to say this about me. “You’re a confident person, comfortable in your own skin. At the moment, you’re feeling pretty safe and secure (The Emperor). I think the danger is in supposing that a secondary income can almost be earning itself, as you sit and watch it.

I sense that making a large investment in anything, especially financially, could be very risky in your situation right now (The Fool). It may seem easy and safe, but I think that would be a very dangerous assumption to make. I could see you exposing yourself to unnecessary risk.

While you feel financially secure, making a financial investment risks a very strong chance of losing that investment, causing possible hardship (The House of God). This is clearly saying to me that the best path to take would be one where you invest more of yourself, rather than your money.”

 And now, my interpretation of Graham’s interpretation.

What Graham could not have known is that there was a time in my past where my decisions were based on getting more money. Those of you that have known me for a while may well remember that when Brian and I devoted ourselves to the collection of more money, we began to destroy each other.

The impending danger, as Graham called it, of LA MAISON DIEU, showed Brian and I falling from our tower amidst all the money. That was surely us!

I am LEMPEREUR right now, confident and secure once again. But, how easily I could become LE FOU, by thinking more about money than of the more important things in my life, such as family, friends, health, integrity.   

LA MAISON DIEU would be my future again if I pursue this path!

Right now, my plate is so very full. At times, I cannot do all I set out to do. So,okay,  maybe now is not the time to pursue a secondary income.

Maybe, what I should do is over the course of the next several years, add a few more berry bushes to my yard and see how they do.  Keep my investment small, manageable. These things are my hobbies, not necessarily a source of income. The pursuit of the money, should never come into play for me. I get it!

Yes! This reading couldn’t have been more spot on for me. What do you think?

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