I asked the Tarot cards what they wanted to tell me today, What the World needs now………..  I felt that I needed to know what, if anything specific, we humans should focus on to make this world a better place for us all to exist in.

These cards came out:

The Two of Pentacles and Temperance.

These two cards immediately suggest that balance and working ‘Twogether’ is what will get us in the right place. Well, OK, we all know that, right?  Of course, but what if the cards were saying a little more?  I think the majority of us nice people believe that we say and do the right things to all people, most of the time, each and every day, but I think we would be astounded if we had been filmed throughout the day and had the tape played back to us.  I think we would actually see a fair few grumpy looks, a throw-away line that might have been hurtful to someone, maybe ignoring a child because we were busy ~ all things that might have a knock-on affect ~ I wonder then if we would truly feel we got it right?  These cards are crying out to me that we need to STOP! and truly make sure that our actions and words with the people around us are carefully measured (see in the image on the Temperance card how the figure is pouring from one cup to another – she has stopped mid-flight in order to make sure she does the job carefully).  That we need to work harder at building our relationships with other people.

We are losing the art of working together.  Before the age of the mobile phone you would be more likely to see a parent talking to their baby in the pram, laughing and interacting whilst their children played on the swing at the park, making conversation with other parents, grandparents and children.  Now we often see them texting or playing a game on their phones – even when crossing a road!  How often do people now have earphones in listening to music, how many conversations and interactions are they missing as they travel to work or take walks round the neighbourhood? How many people do you see in restaurants now goggling at their phones instead of acknowledging the people around them – not least the ones they are dining with. In the good/bad old days people used to look out for each other in their neighbourhood, they would know straight away if something was wrong and be there to help, but that doesn’t happen much these days.  Support mechanisms have been, and are being, stripped away because we are not nourishing relationships with the people around us.  We are slowly being isolated for a number of reasons.  How are the children of today going to learn to be confident enough to interact with others?

In a supermarket last Saturday, it was really quite busy, and, as my husband and I entered the shop behind four or five other people, we realised that an elderly lady had quietly let us all pass by before she could move on.  I looked her in the eye and said ‘Thank you’ and smiled.  She put her hand on my arm and said ‘You are the only one who has said that to me……thank you!’ and smiled beautifully at me.  This is how the smallest of actions (doing or not doing) can affect someone’s day.

We need to remember to work on bonding with each other before we lose the art – especially someone we meet in our work or a shop – we need to STOP! and understand that we have no idea what their background life is, whether they are happy, sad, rich or poor.  We are not to make that judgement, we just need to make sure when we touch their lives we are bringing something lovely to it.

Have you ever heard of Emotional Intelligence?  It is partly about knowing that what we do ourselves has a massive effect on other people, and partly being able to accept the differences between us and other people, and how to handle it. Emotional Intelligence is being able to recognise that we are part of a network which we need to understand is varied and dispirit in so many ways, it is about learning to co-exist, and finding the balance between our own needs and the needs of others.

We feel like we are working well with everyone around us – or at least we feel we are trying – but these two tarot cards are a real poke in the ribs to say  – working’ twogether’ is the one of the most fundamental tasks we are required to undertake for our race to flourish, and flourish in a way that will be beneficial to us.  Let’s not ignore this advice lightly.  Let’s not lose the art of pleasant conversation and positive interaction. Let’s not lose too much trust in the many, many lovely people that live and work around us and let’s start creating What the World needs now……. hand in hand.

Patricia x