What a wonderful thing, to look up yesterday afternoon and see an eagle soaring above our town home! We live just across the state highway from the Mississippi River, where eagles nest along the wooded shoreline areas, so every now and again—if you watch at the right moment—you can see one of these majestic birds floating effortlessly on the air currents with his wings outspread. This one looked luminous, with the rays of afternoon sunshine glowing on his underside.

Now, just as a contrast, we also have a wild jake (young male) turkey in our town home complex! We had a pair of turkeys last spring while we were remodeling, before we moved in, but now we seem to have this one young fellow darting from patio to patio to eat the birdseed that drops from the feeders hanging from many decks above. My husband thinks he got banished from the flock for doing some adolescent male thing the other turkeys didn’t like. My sister has named him Sidney, and he occasionally waddles up, poking the air with his beak as he walks, and gazes in through the sliding glass doors at us. Sue leaves her cigarettes and ashtray out there on the patio table, and I keep waiting to see Sidney go off with a lit cig in his beak.

So it makes me ask myself, as I contemplate these two so-different bird personalities: am I acting like an eagle today, regal and soaring and fully aware of how magnificent I am? Or am I being a turkey, lurking under decks and then sprinting, ungainly and dorky, from one feeder to the next? While each bird was created to fulfill his place and purpose—just as we all are—maybe it would be a good thing to emulate the more glorious bird every chance we get!

As I did this morning’s Tarot meditation, a habit I’ve revived with the new year to regain some balance in my life, I asked the question “How shall I focus myself today?” This strong, positive card came up at the center of my spread. I love the DruidCraft Tarot deck (and this image is used with permission of artist Will Worthington) for its earthy colors and the fascinating personalities it presents, and this Princess of Swords not only answered my soul’s question today–she provided me with the topic for this blog post!

Basically, this Princess was telling me to remember who holds the sword when it comes to prioritizing my time: my exercise time (because a YMCA membership is one of my revived habits, and because I still have a border collie to walk), the time I spend driving my sister to work, cooking, and generally holding this household together–not to mention my writing time. I started a new Amish book yesterday, the fifth book I contracted in this genre, and while it was a gratifying accomplishment to write and write and write so I have four books coming out this year, this prolific pattern has taken its toll in other areas of my life. While nothing treacherous or tragic happened because I spent that much time with my butt in a chair, I forfeited a lot of Real Life time doing ordinary, everyday things I enjoy.

Well, enough of that!

I packed on some pounds, I’ve not joined any new groups or found any running buddies since I’ve moved here to Minnesota, and I know darn well I felt like I was pulling teeth as I wrote my last book because my creative batteries were running waaaaaay too low. I had forgotten that the Sword is always in my hand. In the Tarot, Swords are not so much a symbol of weaponry/force as they are of reason and intellect. When you lose track of how you use your sword (or you have misplaced it and then must spend valuable time finding it again) it’s a pretty sure sign that you need to get a grip and take your life in hand again.

To remedy that situation, I’ve started reading for pleasure again–and am now engrossed in Stephen King’s huge tale, 11/23/63. I signed on at the Y and am rediscovering the pleasures of Tai Chi and water aerobics. I bought several ebooks for my iPad so I can read in the car at night during an upcoming car trip, not to mention a few new albums for the iTunes playlists I write to. It’s good to have texture and music and somebody else’s stories in my life again! The Inner Kid is already getting the roses back in her cheeks.

Today I wish all of you this same sort of reawakening! Who holds your sword this year? Right now? Every moment? Never forget that every decision is yours, and that your days–your life–will turn out exactly as you determine they will because you hold the sword! No excuses–and no need for them!

So now I’m off to work on my new book, WINTER OF WISHES, and then to attend a Tai Chi class. I intend to make it a wonderful day and a productive, playful year, and I hope you will, too!