Dear reader of signs,
Welcome to my ‘Reading the Signs’ June challenge, an exercise of paying attention with a focus in mind as the day unfolds. This is the seventh day report.
Since I was out with friends last night I didn’t write up yesterday’s observation as I arrived home late. As the designated driver I was abstaining from alcohol but I never mind doing that. Martin and I swap driving duties so there’s a balance between who has a few drinks and who remains sober. Recently, he was chauffeuring as I had a number of family events, so fair’s fair.
Yesterday I used the Healing Creations Daily Wisdom Oracle Deck by Irish woman Patricia Fitzgerald. The deck was in hiding the previous day when I was looking for it, yet later on I suddenly knew exactly where it was, despite having searched the general area: sitting under my coffee table.
Patricia is an intuitive artist who paints mandalas on large canvases. I discovered her work and her oracle deck in a local health food store, and I purchased a small limited edition print of one of her pieces.
The practice of gazing at art as a focus of meditation is an old one, and can yield good results. I pulled two cards here simply because I wanted another example of her art.
The perspective card to me was timely. When an issue is weighing on my mind I have a tendency to over-think it — certainly in the past. I’ve become a lot more adept at noticing the start of obsessive thinking. Recently I had the image of a scissors in my mind as I cut the tangles of thought. Pulling back and realising you are focusing on a small knot in what is a well woven weave is a reminder to relax and consider all that’s going well.
I’m sure most people struggle with confidence at some point in their lives. Writer/artists/performers have to put themselves and their work on display so it can be a stressful activity at times. Confidence, I feel, is a self-assurance that does not need to be braggy.
It’s a deep understanding and acceptance of who you are as a person and the skills you have mastered. It means that is someone belittles your work or yourself that you can stand intact and realise that their attitude has nothing to do with you and your work. It is their perspective, and you don’t have to take it on.
In one of those funny synchronicities, I heard from a friend of mine yesterday, Dr. Rachel Knightley, who is also on Substack.
Then I noticed the recent interview on her podcast with journalist/performer/speaker John-Paul Flintoff.
I decided to listen to it, and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. A good section of it had to do with confidence, especially in relation to performing and being on stage in front of people. Paul discussed at one point realising that there were as many opinions of him as there were people, yet he remained the same. And he talked about the confidence of being authentic and addressing a problem by acknowledging it with open directness.
It was a useful podcast to listen to yesterday and it gave me a lot of food for thought, some of which I directly used later to resolve a problem (for now!)
Life is always giving you some other new issue. The learning never stops!