When it comes to finding balance, it all pivots on priorities. If you’re not prioritising the right things, you start to develop bad habits that can affect your health, your business or your relationships. If we want to make sure we have a healthy balance between work and life, we need to start by breaking down the things we prioritise.
I pulled together this little four-card tarot spread by visualising a scale. The scale is tipped and it’s up to us to try and figure out why that is. This spread asks us to not only figure out what we are prioritising and what we are neglecting, but why we are. The why behind all of this is integral to finding solutions. We can’t really find that balance if we have no idea why it’s out of balance in the first place now, can we!
Let’s take a look at the spread and break it down a little more so it all makes sense:
We start the reading with card 1, the energy that is taking up all your time and mental space. This card represents what is currently on the very top of your priority list. The 2nd card is the energy that is not getting enough of your time and attention. Compare the two, what do you notice? Are they from the same suit or arcana? Do they feel complementary or conflicting? See if you can pinpoint the exact thing these two cards are referring to before moving on to the final cards.
We then move into the main pillar of the reading, the energies that are supporting the first two cards. These are the ‘why’ cards. Card 3 shows us why you are prioritising the energy from card 1 over that of card 2, it offers more clarity around why it’s so important and why it might be hard to pull back from. The final card, card 4, shows us why we aren’t prioritising the energy of card 2. It tells us what might be stopping us from putting this energy first or what is blocking this energy from even making it to your conscious mind. Again, compare the two ‘whys’ of cards 3 & 4, what themes or patterns do you see? Can you spot an obvious conflict between the two messages?
Example reading:
Card 1) With the Seven of Cups in the ‘high priority’ position, it looks like we are actually incapable of finding something to make a priority because we are trying to satisfy too many areas of our life at once. There’s so much we want to do and achieve that we can’t find a focus to on with. It would appear that the Seven of Cups is our personal life, with loads of things on our bucket list meaning that our intention for our business could be muddled up in what we want to achieve with our lives.
Card 2) The Ace of Wands shows that what we need to prioritise is actually just doing something, anything. Pick one thing to move forward with and get the ball rolling. We are free to change our mind further down the line but nothing will change if nothing changes. This with card 1 shows us that our big life dreams and goals may be getting in the way of putting plans into action within our business. We’re so busy dreaming that we’re forgetting to do anything.
Card 3) The Eight of Pentacles is our ‘why’ for card 1. With this card, we can see that the reason why we’re so distracted is that we are determined to live the dream. We want to build a business from a place of passion or skill. we want to be the very best or what’s the point of trying right?
Card 4) The Tower is here to give us a ‘why’ for our Ace of Wands. It suggests that the reason we are so reluctant to take hold of that wand and get started is that we are afraid of it not working out and for it all to come crashing down around us. If we compare this with the previous card, we can see that there is an all or nothing vibe to the two cards. We either want to be the very best or it’s not going to work out.
We need to then address this Tower fear so that we can not only start to put plans into action but also be able to feel confident in making a definitive choice about what it is we want out of life and work.
If you’re wondering ‘what does this have to do with work/life balance though?’, well if you are unbalanced in one area of your life, then there is a strong possibility that everything is out of whack. Remember that even though we try and compartmentalise our lives, it’s impossible to keep the troubles and worries of work out of our personal life and vice versa. we often get told to leave personal matters at the door or leave work at the office, but that suggests that your work and life never interact, which is just not true.
What you do and experience in your work has the same impact as the things you experience outside of work. Your brain doesn’t care that it’s an ‘office problem’ or if it’s ‘personal’ your brain looks at the facts and acts accordingly. So, if you can see and understand what you prioritise, whether work-related or not, then it’s very easy to know how to strike a balance. You know where the issues lie and you can make adjustments where needed.
