Ditch the thank you cards, the sense of responsibility.

Stop comparing what you have.

Above all, do not use should and grateful in the same sentence. Ever.

-Teresa Deak

It is the rare and strange person who decides that making a new deck of tarot cards is not only a good idea but a doable idea. So a few weeks ago when I saw the hashtag #gratitudetarot come through the ceaseless twitter-machine I was fascinated. Despite being a devoted unofficial member of the Rider-Waite tarot deck fan club I have played with dozens of different decks in my life. I like gratitude and I like tarot…this could be amazing!

Some decks use the traditional four suits with fourteen cards in each, the minor arcana, and twenty two major arcana with such famed images as “Death”, “The Tower” or “the Wheel of Fortune”. Others use different structures to orient their cards.

When I went to her gratitude site it starts with

Right now I want you to forget

Forget everything you’ve ever thought about gratitude

Ditch the thank you cards, the sense of responsibility

Stop comparing what you have

Above all, do not use should and grateful in the same sentence. Ever.

I can understand how this might be confusing
Some clarity:

We’re not here for heavy.

We’re here for awe…

I was in.

Bridget and I are also making a tarot deck called the Antipreneur Tarot which we will tell you about at some point. But hearing that another person was making a physical tarot deck was like an ancient horn being blown to summon scattered siblings to reunite in a sacred grove.

So we set up a time time to talk. And we did. And we got along great.

But I am not writing this just tell you that Teresa Deak/ @picsiechick is lovely  or that you should really consider looking at her beautiful pictures at picsiechick.com or that her Gratitude Tarot is a heartfelt, touching and artistic endeavor.

I am writing this to share with you a superpower.

One that you have.

The power of being small.

Teresa was adamant that her superpower was being small and how much strength and rest she found there.

Much of the inspirational material found “out there” that is geared for professional, personal and spiritual development worships at the altar of BIG.

Play Big.

Play Bigger.

Play a Big Game.

Play a Bigger Game.

Play a Big Game You Can Dominate.

Play a Bigger Game You Are Destined to Win.

And it goes on quite hyperbolically. There is a point to this sort of expansive talk because we fall into the habit of seeing ourselves as quite limited.

Teresa Deak has been big and doesn’t deny her bigness or her connectedness to all things. And yet she embraces the small.

The humble.

The simple.

The bare.

All of her pictures show her devotion and attention to the small. She captures that each pink leaf is a slightly different pink.

This is remarkable when the forces of culture are saying

“GROW”, “EXPAND”, “EXTEND”, “GET MORE” and “HAVE MORE” and “HAVE MORE OF THE SAME”

Teresa, in her smallness, is actually and actively tremendous. Staying rooted in the small she is free to enter anywhere.

This is a largely uncommon virtue that this woman in Western Canada who just showed up in a corner of twitter one day just happens to explore beautifully.

The acorn/oak tree metaphor is a lovely one…that from this tiny little acorn comes this massive and impressive and long lived and strong tree that is a shelter to all. And where does the acorn go? It gets transformed as the gate to this massive new thing being born.

And yet the smallness never goes away. The root structure of an oak tree is held in place by millions of tiny little hairs that anchor into the soil and on the other end it is the smallest tips of the branches that sway in the wind acting as a wind break and protect the tree from snapping.

The small is easily forgotten. But we need the small.

People like Teresa Deak remind us that while we need to consciously approach being big because we habitually see ourselves as small we must also consciously approach being small so  that we don’t habitually see ourselves as being big.

We are big and small.

And in remembering this we remember that we are whole. Be grateful for that.

So breathe in Teresa’s work at picsiechick.com or GivenToGratitude.com and check out her beautiful tarot deck devoted to exploring gratitude…The Gratitude Tarot or follow her at @picsiechick and let her remind you how embracing what is small in you will help you connect with your wholeness.

Which is no small thing.