Building on firm foundations

Oh look, it's Two of Pentacles again. After yesterday I could use some balance. I felt a bit out of sorts all day. But today I'm going back to work (after 4 days off in a row--something I'm not used to!) and I will fall back into a routine. I hope my routine will be more balanced than it has been in the past. Maybe today will be the day I finally go all day without eating any sugary or fatty treats.

I like the way the plants in this card are putting their roots into the ground. It is important to remember that balance is based on solid roots, firm foundations. What firm foundations do I have that I can build on? --

I have a supportive husband who does not try to undermine or sabotage me when I want to make changes. (I know that there are husbands who do that.)

I have a regular income. It's not much, but it's reliable.


I have no obligations that would get in the way of a change in routine. Our time is our own.

I have my physical health. There is nothing physically wrong with me that would prevent me from exercising or experimenting with my daily nutrition.

I have a respectable collection of workout DVDs and all the equipment I need already in place.

I have a regular yoga practice. This serves two purposes, increasing strength, flexibility and balance, true, but ultimately it is a practice in self-reflective awareness. As Donna Farhi says in Bringing Yoga to Life, 'We use the practice of yoga not to correct or punish ourselves for who we are not, but to see who we actually are.' And so the yoga practice serves the two purposes represented in the card -- groundedness in the material/physical, balanced with nurturing to the spiritual.

I have well-established convictions about the connection between food choices and the environment, and this is why I eat a strict vegetarian diet. So there are already boundaries set for me--though my choices have been not the best lately, they still exist within the confines of foods I consider acceptable. I just need to rein those boundaries in a bit to where they used to be.

It's good to know I have all these tools at hand, that I'm not just stuck out on my own. Think about some challenges you have faced lately. What firm foundations do you have in place, that you may have forgotten about? It helps to remind yourself that the situation is NOT hopeless!

Edited to Add: A few hours after I wrote the above post, I was reading further in Donna Farhi's Bringing Yoga to Life and read this very synchronous passage:

'Spend a few moments contemplating these truths. First, you are alive. You happened! It could well have turned out differently. Second, your life circumstances ares such that you could afford to buy this book, and you are educated enough to read it. It is likely you have shelter, a place to sleep, food to eat. Further, you have access to spiritual teachings, teachers, and the time to practice. These are indications of extraordinary good fortune. Those who find themselves in such favourable circumstances are only a fraction of the world's population. No matter how sore, tired or unwell you feel, what incredible good fortune that you have the tools to improve our condition and your life.'

Again, I am amazed at how the lessons for each day support and reinforce one another.