Note to Self: Remind Sitters to be PROACTIVE

One of my callers tonight was hoping to hear back from a person whom she'd had a pleasant, though somewhat long-distance, relationship with in the last several months. Offline concerns, justifiable ones, had diverted his attention and she hadn't heard from him in a while. On reviewing the cards, one of my bits of feedback to her was that she might consider sending a light-hearted "Hi, how are you?" note to test the waters and re-initiate contact.

That was when she mentioned that she'd spoken to some other readers, all of whom told her that she would hear from him by Valentine's Day. Tonight's reading was the first one that offered a suggestion that would help MAKE that happen. I explained that I approach Tarot not as a predictor of things that we have no control over, the way the weather report tells us about things that will happen which we have no way of influencing. (Though even then, we do have control over how we respond to those things, such as carrying an umbrella when the forecast calls for rain.) Rather, Tarot tells us what direction we're facing, like a compass. Then, it's up to us to decide whether we want to move in that direction or go a different way.

But there are moments in calls that help ME learn just as much as anything that helps the callers. In this case, I had a "Note to Self" moment: instead of just saying that something looks likely to happen, always provide steps the person can take to help bring their goal about.

The way things stand now, if she re-initiates contact, she immediately skews the odds heavily in favor of hearing back from him, and at that point, ALL the readers' predictions become true. :-)

This lesson served me well in the very next call, where I got a question from someone who wanted to know where her beau stood on commitment. Cards that came up indicated some hesitation on his part, but I didn't want to just let the cards speak for him and have the caller leave it at that. I also reminded the caller that it would be beneficial to open a dialogue with him on the matter, and let him speak for himself. That is the best way for her to be fair both to him and to herself.

Note to self...

Note to self...

Some people who call these phone-in services are placing the call because they're unhappy. And apparently, some of THOSE people will take it out on the reader when the reader's not forthcoming with the answers they've pre-determined that they want to hear.

So yeah, I'm a bit miffed at the moment for having been rudely treated. But I'm not going to hold onto it. And compared to what's weighing on Caller X's shoulders, one rude caller is minor. My annoyance will fade and go away. X's issues don't appear to be things that will be fading any time soon. Maybe if I was in X's shoes, my fuse would be short, too.

Breaking confidentiality is unthinkable, not to mention against my code of ethics, so I'll just say this: I wish I could send Caller X the previous post on this blog, the one that hammers home the YOU DESERVE HONESTY, SO ACCEPT NOTHING LESS proclamation. Because unfortunately, that's the crux of the matter, and it's a situation that only Caller X can resolve.