The Best $5.00 Advice I’ve Ever Gotten

 

 

A few years back, while on a road trip to the interior of British Columbia with my sister, we found ourselves in the city of Penticton one Saturday afternoon.

Penticton, nestled between Sakha lake and Lake Okanagan, is one of my favorite cities and at least once a year, I try to visit it.

Downtown Penticton has an amazing street market on Saturday’s in the summer and it was there that I encountered this simple, but life altering advice.

Snuggled in amongst the farm fresh produce vendors and the unique artisan stalls, was a no nonsense looking, tarot card reader’s booth. Attached to one of the support posts was a price list for various readings, and written at the very bottom, “One question only – $5.00.”

Now, I have read tarots for over a decade myself but always enjoy another’s insight gleaned from the cards, so I plunked down a five dollar bill and asked my question.

A little background here: I was in the middle of a life transition that summer and was asking myself some deep questions and exploring many spiritual paths, in an attempt to make sense of what I was going through at the time. I knew I didn’t want to do the same old thing or be my same old self, but for some reason, clarity was escaping me.

The tarot card reader was a older lady, well into her crone years. She was a serious looking soul and did not strike me as the stereotypical reader. No loose flowing clothing. No outwardly metaphysical trappings. Even her booth was austere; looking more like a roadside fruit stand, than a mystical portal to the divine.

So there we stood, my sister and I, and I asked, “Can you tell me what I should do next for a career?”

The lady shuffled the deck, then dealt out three cards.

Which cards they were, I do not remember, all I remember was this stern looking woman peered down at the cards, then up at me, and said, “Whatever it is that you should do….. do something.” Then she just stared at me and said nothing more.

Okay then, I mean, what did I expect for $5.00 after all.

Well, honestly, what I did expect, was some magical declaration enlightening me of what my true, heaven sent path was suppose to be, like maybe I secretly had a special gift that was destined to be revealed to me at that moment and place in time and that I would receive complete clarity and the birds would sing and the angels would herald my discovery.

Instead, I thanked her and my sister and I walked away.

For the rest of the afternoon, I felt somewhat out of sorts as I pondered what the tarot reader had said. I felt more confused than before I had parted with my $5.00.

Do something? That was the problem in a nut shell. I already knew that part of the problem. It was the other part, the “do what” something, that I didn’t grasp. Why on earth would I have asked her if I knew what that “what” was?

Now, one thing that I know, is that when you get all stressed out, over-thinking things, you block new insights from entering into your mind and your heart. So it was days later, after I had let my self move on from the experience with the old tarot card reader, that the light bulb turned on and the answer downloaded.

You see, “do something” had nothing to do with knowing what it is that I should do, and everything with, getting out there in the world and moving forward.

If you are frozen in indecision, unable to make a decision one way or the other, you will most likely miss an opportunity that you may have never considered.

In her new book, “I Mean Business” Carrie Green states, “You can’t steer a parked car.” It is only when you are moving that you can steer yourself in a new direction.

When you are in transition, you are between one stage of your life and another. It is a shift, a metamorphosis, where you are no longer your old self, but your new self has not fully materialized yet, but there is still opportunity to effect the outcome, and you do that by doing something.

This was a great lesson for me. If I wanted to transition into the next phase of my life, one that was different from the old, unwanted one, then I needed to get doing things that would show me other options. I needed to explore and experience “something”.

Doing something, anything, alters your perspective and allows for new ideas and insights to enter into your life.

Who hasn’t heard a story about someone who ventured out and followed their curiosity and in doing this, they found their true passion. It may never have happened if they did not engage in the act of doing something.

That tarot card reader from Penticton was wise indeed and I would say that I got more than my $5.00 worth from her service.

I took her advice and stepped out of my old, outdated patterns and started to try new things. It wasn’t long before I found a new passion and completed the transition into a new and improved, enlightened, and much happier person.

And now, I have paid this simple, but powerful advice forward to you. No charge.

 

What simple advice has made a real difference in your life? Feel free to share it in the comments and continue the conversation.