I don’t know about you, but I have an incredibly loud and vocal inner critic.
She (Janice) loves to voice her opinion on everything I get up to. On days when I am not wading through her snarky commentary on what I say, wear, eat, think, and even how I move, I get slammed for what I don’t say, wear, eat, think, and move. She’s a real treat.
One of her favourite activities is sabotaging my Oracle card practice.
The first day I tried to interpret the meaning of my daily Oracle card, she bought front-row seats and a never ending supply of popcorn. 15+ years later, she’s still up front throwing popcorn and verbal barbs at me.
Why am I giving floor space to my inner critic?
Because I suspect we all have a Janice lurking in the background waiting to poke fun at our Oracle card journey. By sharing some of my internal dialogue, I hope you, too, can find a way to manage your critical self. But first, let’s take a look at some of the snarky crap my inner critic likes to hurl at me.
Janiceism – How many of them sound familiar to you?
- Look at you thinking you have super powers.
- Check out Miss Lah-dee-dah, thinking she can ‘read’ cards.
- There’s no way you will move beyond using the guidebook; you can’t even settle on what type of card deck you like.
- Do you purposely write badly to hide how much your interpretations suck?
- You really aren’t smart enough for this.
- Who are you kidding? You are just making it up.
- Learning facts and regurgitating them is not ‘intuitive’ card reading.
- You know, you could be doing anything else instead of this.
- Your family think you are bonkers.
- Pahahaa…you got that wrong!!
- You couldn’t even keep a journal as a teenager. What makes you think you can do this?
- What do you need life insights for? You’re so pedestrian.
- Self-reflection? You’re so vain… (Thanks, Carley Simon)
- Oracle card wisdom? Dollar store psychiatry more like.
- You can barely get 1 card ‘right’ why bother with 3?
- Tea leaf reading is trending; let’s waste time on that too.
- You can’t shuffle cards properly; what makes you think you ‘read’ cards?
- What’s next, shamanic dancing around a beach fire?!
As you can see, my inner critic is very creative and will throw all kinds of stuff at me for maximum impact, including past events and activities. She does, however, occasionally get it wrong.
That Shamanic fire dance was an incredible experience, even the blindfolded bit!
How do I put out my creative inner snark?
I don my cape (because, you know, I have superpowers) and return fire with a string of super witty rebuttals.
If only. The truth is I use distract & redirect strategies.
For example, I distract Janice when I draw by watching crime dramas. Weird, I know, but she loves them! Without a fictional crime drama playing in the background, every pen stroke and colour choice is subject to crippling scorn.
However, redirecting Janice works best when it comes to my Oracle card practice.
As I shared in my article How to jazz up your life with Oracle cards, I use my cards in a variety of ways to brighten my day. Most are quick-hit in nature so they barely register on the Snark O’Meter, but I also like to do a deep dive at least twice a week.
My in-depth practice usually involves flexing my analytical and intuitive eye across 3-5 Oracle cards and then working out how they relate to me and my world. Unfortunately, I don’t enjoy criminal distractions during my card practice.
Without programs like Mindhunter to occupy my inner jerk, my Oracle card practice is the equivalent of a big bag of catnip to Janice.
Easy 7 Step Oracle Card Process
To redirect the attention of my snarky little friend, I have given my uber critical self an active role in my 7-Step Oracle card process, namely as the collector of all things useful. Daft, as that job title sounds (she chose it), this step in my card practice is vital to boosting the accuracy of my card interpretations and minimizing self-doubt.
How?
Easy. Part of my oracle card process involves identifying card clues (symbols, colours, fruit and flowers etc.) and writing down everything I know about them. Brain dumping keeps Janice and my analytical, fact-loving self very happy AND creates space for my creative self to leapfrog through random but valuable information to insightful card interpretations.
It’s a win-win situation.
Don’t get me wrong, my inner critic is still very vocal, but not during my card practice, unless I skip steps 2 & 3 of my card process.
The point is not to let Janice, Kevin or whoever put you off Oracle cards or your card practice ambitions. Instead, find a way to distract or redirect your inner critic.
In my article 7 Step Oracle Card Process I outline the key components of my Oracle card method and how it helps quieten Janice, grow my general knowledge and boost my Oracle card accuracy. You never know; there may be a step or 7 in there that will help you quieten your inner jerk.
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