When the Hard Way is the Right Way

I have a friend who teaches yoga. One of her oft-used expressions is ‘the hard way is the right way’. Sometimes I agree with this, sometimes I don’t.

I think there are times when we make things harder than they need to be. We do this by overthinking. We tell ourselves narratives about our lives that cast us as the villain of our own life story.

Yet, she definitely has a point, especially when it comes to physical exercise, like yoga or strength training. The best form and the correct postures are usually much harder than the positions we resort to that end up cheating us out of the full benefit of the exercise. This is a good analogy for something that happens in life.

Sometimes the path to a worthy goal is treacherous and difficult.

When we are working to achieve a goal and discover that the path is hard, it is a comfort to know that the hard way is indeed the right way. Persevering through difficulty can lead to success.

This is counter a great deal of spiritual thinking which suggests that if your path is correct you will walk it with ease. Often, nothing is further from the truth.

Something I find myself saying to people who are working to live a life less ordinary and achieve tremendous goals is this. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

Sometimes there will be synchronicities and things that fall into place as we venture on a new path which we interpret as our angels being on our side, or the wind being at our back. We might rightly see this as proof that the Universe supports what we are doing, we are living our purpose, and on the right track.

Many times, though, the opposite does not hold true. Sometimes the Universe will put up stumbling blocks for us to solve along the way. This might be to strengthen us for the tasks we must face in order to be successful. Perhaps we have to work hard and navigate difficulties to prove to ourselves that we really want this success. Maybe pushing against obstacles will, in the end, help us to meet the lofty goals we have set for ourselves.

Often, even when we face these difficulties, we can still find those synchronicities and signs that help us know the Universe is with us along the difficult path.

When the goal you have set for yourself seems out of reach because of the twisty path you will have to traverse to get there, you might need to look at things a different way.

Perhaps the path is hard because the hard way is the right way.

The StaarCorner

Next week I will begin announcing some great new presenters and vendors for StaarCon. If you are interested in becoming a presenter or vendor, please send me an email.

StaarCon will focus on divination in all its forms. We will have presentations appropriate for people at all points on the journey, from beginner to adept.

To discover more about our plans for StaarCon, visit our website!

Jaymi Elford
Tarot Reader, Deck Creator, Author & Podcaster

Tarot for When the Path is Hard

When the path we have laid out for our success becomes difficult, we often wonder if we are indeed on the right path, or if there is something we can do to make the path easier.

Tarot is the perfect tool to help us answer these questions.

Often a conversation with the cards, or a tarot dialogue, is the right way to get a clear picture about the feasibility of your project, and the way forward.

Here are some examples of the questions you can ask about your path, your purpose and your plans.

What does my ultimate success on this path look like?

What can I do to more easily achieve my goals?

What is the meaning of the difficulties I am facing?

What is something I need to know about the goal I have chosen?

How can I know that this is the right path for me?

Join us Tomorrow for a Tarot Class on Zoom

Tomorrow, Thursday May 21, at 7 pm EDT, I am teaching Practical Tarot Techniques on Zoom.

If you would like to learn techniques for card interpretation, and techniques for performing a successful tarot reading, this is a great class for you.

Class fee is $37.50. You can register any time prior to the beginning of class. The class description and registration details are available on the event listing on my website.

The Week in Review

This week I was excited to present a number of events on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, including two free classes on YouTube, and two tarot meetups, one on Facebook and one on YouTube.

You can watch them all in archive on my YouTube channel.

A fun, funny, and informative thing happened during our Cards and Conversation Tarot Meetup on YouTube Live this week. I wrote about it on my Community Blog.

From Around the Web

I was impressed with the teacher who knitted dolls of her students. It seemed like the kind of thing my mother would have done!

This article in the New Yorker about the literary roots of tarot made my heart sing.

Lisa Boswell has a great method for creating and using a tarot spread to help you achieve your goals.

Cards for Your Consideration

We often see the Ten of Wands as burdens we are carrying unnecessarily.  Yet, sometimes this card can reveal the hard path to a great reward.

The suit of Wands relates to Fire. Fire can be about our motivation, our passions and our creativity. The suit of Wands can depict the story of the artist, the entrepreneur, or the activist. The suit of Wands can tell the story of those who take a difficult path to achieve their dreams.

When we see the character in the Smith-Waite Ten of Wands, we see he is carrying a heavy load all by himself. Yet, he is carrying it as if it were a bunch of balloons.

Off in the distance, we see a town. Perhaps he is carrying his bundle into the town to sell it and create his success.

When we agree to carry something heavy in order to achieve a noble goal, the Ten of Wands may tell us we are on the right path.

Upcoming Events and Tours

Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 3 Issue 21
May 20, 2020