Knight of Swords - How To Be Your Own Heroine/Hero

Many years ago I got my SCUBA certification. When the idea was first presented to me, I wasn't a willing participant, and made excuses why I couldn't possibly do this, because well I was afraid, though I loved the water, and swimming. It was free training through the military, and so in spite of my reservations and reluctance, I went ahead and before I knew it, I was enrolled. It was hard work and we were really put through our paces, with  a lot of challenging tests.

Bar none, the biggest test for me was overcoming my panic. What can kill divers is panic. I think this can be related to pretty much everything in life. And so this was made very clear to us at the very start, that we had to get a hold of our panic. When we did our open water dive with our instructor, this is what he was looking for in our eyes, panic.

I was able to overcome my fear by taking control of my panic, and after several weeks of rigorous training, I finally got my certification. I can't exactly explain how I did this, but I know it was about facing fear head on. And I'm sure all that breathing into a regulator attached to my oxygen tank, and being underwater puts everything into slow motion. All you hear is the sound of your breathing, which is very meditative, and you're in the zen zone.

 It wasn't that fear was absent, but I refused to let it it control me. I was stubborn, and began to instinctively look on this as an opportunity for personal growth.

The Knight of Swords portrays the twins, Castor the mortal, and Polydeuces the Divine. It's a card of courage, adventure and change. Having a sense of adventure and being open to change can make us better people. When we can temper our intuition/emotion with our rational/intellectual mind and visa versa, this can help us to be aware of our behaviour and our mortal and divine nature.

By not allowing ourselves to be ruled by our reactions to situations when the old monkey brain kicks in, creating a scenario of fight or flight, we can gain control of ourselves.
 Learning how to SCUBA dive was a really important life changing lesson. I learned how to have courage, and to be open to change.
 Getting out of our comfort zone, and doing the things that we often afraid of, is what enables personal growth. This has been my own personal experience, time and time again.

Learning how to be our own heroine or hero is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. Sometimes it's a matter of saving ourselves from ourselves.