Opportunity Missed or Bullet Dodged?
Illustration of a person missing a boat.
It is good to be hopeful. Hope is part of positivity, and the power of positive thinking is undeniable. This means that when we meet a new potential love interest, or interview for an exciting new job, we are hopeful for a great outcome. If we don’t get the job, or the person doesn’t return our interest, we may see it as a missed opportunity.
Sometimes, perhaps it is. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities exist, and sometimes we miss them. Some people train for years to perform in a particular field and never get chosen. It isn't easy to process and recover from those missed opportunities. Likewise, when a loved one dies young, we deeply regret the opportunities missed by a life cut short.
Yet, very often, the thing that feels like a missed opportunity just isn’t. Many people go through life regretting something that didn’t happen for them. It is easy to see something we wanted but didn’t get as a missed opportunity. Our view of that ‘opportunity’ often comes only from our hope and imagination. When we think about it differently, we often realize that everything has turned out the best way possible for us. Indeed, the opportunity we missed may have been something that would not serve us at all.
Sometimes we can reprocess our regrets by thinking that the universe protected us by denying us something we thought we wanted but wasn’t right for us.
What would happen if we automatically processed a rejection or disappointment with, “Looks like I just dodged a bullet’ rather than, “This is a great loss”? In the moment of any disappointment, either possibility is equally valid. Why do we often choose the mental process that causes us the most damage?
We all know the expression “sour grapes" from Aesop’s Fables. In that story, when the fox could not reach the grapes on the vine, he decided it was not a loss because they were probably sour anyway.
From this story we learn that it is better to admit defeat than to pretend something we wanted wasn’t worth having. Yet, reality tells us that the fox cannot know what was true about the grapes. If the fox is still mourning the loss of sweet grapes after twenty years, might it have been healthier for him to believe they would have been sour?
How we process defeat, regret, rejection, and disappointment in life can often predict how much further disappointment we will endure. If we are unable to find new opportunities after defeat, we will undoubtedly face further defeat. If we can pivot and find new possibilities, we will often discover that the difficulties of the past brought us to something even better than we could have imagined.
The StaarCon 5 Imagining of Pixie Arcana. Art and composition by Stacey Williams-Ng, backgrounds by Animix.
The StaarCorner
On Thursday, March 13, join Serena Fox and Frank Kwiatkowski in the Meeting Hall Lounge on Accelevents at 5:30 pm ET for Tarot for the Ides of March.
How do we use tarot for protection and optimism? And how do we help when clients don't get the reading or cards they had hoped for?
Plus, Frank will share a favorite topic, connections between tarot and the Beatles.
Anyone with a StaarCon 5 ticket is welcome! Don’t have a ticket? Get one for only $10 and help support StaarCon!
Christiana Gaudet with StaarCon 5 presenter Kristine Gorman.
Tarot cards with a focus on the Five of Pentacles.
The Lesson of the Five of Pentacles
No tarot card speaks of opportunities real and missed more poignantly than the Five of Pentacles.
In the Waite image, we see impoverished and injured people in the snow, walking past a church instead of choosing to enter and find warmth and sustenance. In more modern depictions we sometimes see a lock with a prominent key that the person refuses to use, or a door the person refuses to open.
When this card appears, it can speak of a missed opportunity, or a feeling of a missed opportunity. This allows us to explore what is true about what has happened, and what is possible for the future. Whatever event this card references, there is always an implication of another opportunity around the corner, if only we will look for it.
The disappointment and wretchedness in this card are visceral. The hope that lies under the surface is harder to find. To me, that is the lesson of the Five of Pentacles. Hope and opportunity are always present. Sometimes we have to look hard to find them.
Tarot as a Career Coach Webinar on YouTube Live - March 13th @ 7 pm.
The Week in Review
Join me on my YouTube channel tomorrow evening, Thursday, at 7 pm, for a free tarot workshop on using tarot as a career coach.
On Saturday, please join me in person at Mandel Public Library in West Palm Beach at 1 pm for a free all-levels tarot class.
From Around the Web
StaarCon presenter Kristine Gorman has suffered the tragic loss of her husband, legendary tattoo artist Shotsie Gorman. A GoFundMe has been set up for her and their child.
Here is a blog post from Stage32. What To Do When You Think You’ve Missed Your Chance might have helpful clues for us!
If you are looking for a job, here is a tarot spread from Labyrinthos that can help!
A circle of people holding hands.
Communities
Have you ever been rejected from a circle of friends or family, or made to feel unwelcome in a community of faith? Or have you needed to walk away from a close group?
The connections we make with others, and the connections we find in like-minded groups, can feel life-sustaining. It can feel devastating when something goes wrong and we lose the connection.
Suppose the connection was lost because of actual wrongdoing on your part. In that case, your only option is to take the opportunity for growth, even as you might lose the chance to be part of this particular group.
Very often, though, we feel ostracized from groups of family, friends, and faith, when we have done nothing wrong other than to outgrow the group. We may be scolded for “changing’ or “straying from the path.” Yet, the truth might be that our paths are simply parting ways.
Sometimes our growth requires us to leave a community, friend, or family group in favor of people who will treat us better or support more expansive thinking. The guilt, shame, and pain that come from such a transition can be intense, primarily because we feel bad for losing the opportunity to be part of the group.
Yet, if the group no longer supports our growth and well-being, are we truly losing anything of value?
We may miss the times that we felt welcome and those warm feelings, but the trick is to quickly find that warm welcome elsewhere, rather than seek it where we know it is no longer available.
Unseen hands leafing through a calendar.
Upcoming Events
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Monday 9:30 am: Your 3-Card Weekly Reading
Thursday Noon: Tarot Topics Newsletter Recap
Friday Noon: Your Friday Weekly Wrap-up
Saturday 12:30 pm: Saturday Psychic Sampler
Christiana Gaudet at her laptop, circa 2021.
About Christiana Gaudet
Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.
Christiana Gaudet
770 SE Indian Street
Stuart, Florida 34997-5604
Locations in Port Saint Lucie, West Palm Beach, and Stuart, Florida!
Email cgaudet@cardandcraft.com
On the web www.christianagaudet.com
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Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
For business or agent inquiries, call 772-301-0232
For appointments, call or text 561-655-1160
Schedule Appointments, Mentoring Sessions, or Purchase Gift Certificates Online!
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Agent inquiries are welcome.
Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 8 Issue 11
March 12, 2025
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