My friend and I were talking about fitness the other day. She's been wearing a 'FitBit,' and another friend of mine has been wearing  Nike FuelBand. I was contemplating investing in such a gizmo, as I'll be the first to admit I could take better care of myself than I do. These things are neat little gadgets and I'm sure they work for tracking, motivation, and encouragement . Mulling it over before sleep that night though, I started thinking about the tools that I already have. I've got a food tracker on my smartphone, I've got a pedometer, and I've got my Tarot. 

"How on Earth does the Tarot fit in with a keep fit plan," you might well ask? Before you chalk me up to being completely crazy (as opposed to just the 'way-out-there-crazy-but still-functional' type of crazy that I'll readily admit to being), hear me out. I thought I might be off my rocker, but I've played around with this for a few days now, and I've been very surprised by how well it works. 

While doing my morning meditations with the Tarot, I've started pulling a card as a 'living well' theme for the day. Sometimes it's a bit vague, and I put that down to me only starting to work with the cards in this manner. Sometimes it's uncannily appropriate. For example, yesterday I was thinking about starting to use my little set of kettle bells again, and I pulled the card, the Ten of Wands. Now, when I do Tarot readings, this card always makes me think of carrying burdens or there being too much weight on someone's shoulders. It stands to reason then that this was confirming that the kettle bells might be a good choice for that morning. 

Another 'test' run came when I had been thinking about starting to walk more. The card that day was the Eight of Cups. When I am doing a reading, to me this card indicates it's time to walk away from what is not working. It seemed to have a twofold meaning in this instance, because it was at the start of my new determination to take better care of myself, so I would be walking away from old habits. It also affirmed that walking was probably a good idea. 

A third instance was, rather than doing something particularly physical one day, I thought I'd do a bit of 'Rhythm Kung Fu' using the Wii Fit (go on, you can laugh), and I drew the Hermit. To me, this is a card of introspection, and meditation, of doing something contemplative as opposed to blatantly active. 

I started wondering what else the cards could teach me. Could the Justice card indicate that it is a day for working with balance exercises; would the cards in the suit of Cups advocate a water activity (not that there is a swimming pool near here, but it might work for some)? Might the Eight of Pentacles tell me to work harder towards my goals, or perhaps the Judgement card emerge when it was time to weigh and measure? This is all 'food' for thought, if you'll pardon the pun. I'm going to keep working with it. I may decide that it's not worth it and that the few successes that I have had are just a fluke, but I'm not ready to completely throw it out yet. I use the Tarot for nearly everything else; so I'm going to persevere awhile longer, and see if it works for this, too.  Watch this space -- I'll keep you updated.