Building Stability with Simple Daily Habits

Direction & Discipline

Standing on the ledge, new day. How are y’all doing this morning so far?

Today, so far, I haven’t run into anything that’s set me off, which is honestly a win. I’m in relatively good spirits. And as I sit here shuffling my tarot cards, you’re probably wondering why I keep coming back to this.

Ritual as scaffolding (not “woo,” just structure)

Part of restructuring life is ritual. Daily little things that shape the day and keep it from turning into a fog bank. And “ritual” doesn’t have to mean spiritual. It can be: get up, get dressed, make the bed, do the morning ablutions, grab a coffee, take medication, and then sit down for a few quiet minutes before the world starts asking for pieces of you.1

Psychologically, that kind of repeated, structured sequence matters because it can regulate emotion, build a sense of control when life feels slippery, and create a predictable “starting line” when motivation is unreliable.2 And on a plain, practical level: repeating a behavior in a consistent context is how habits become more automatic over time.3

And yeah, I’m dating myself when I say “read the paper.” Today’s equivalent is doomscrolling the web for recent events. But the point stands: small routines are how you build a life that doesn’t depend on your mood cooperating.4

Tarot as reflection (not a crystal ball)

Some people treat tarot as divination: prediction, prophecy, a map of your inevitable future. That’s not how I use it. For me, tarot is a tool for insight and reflection, a way to focus attention and pull up the parts of my own mind I’ve been avoiding or ignoring. It’s closer to a structured prompt than a supernatural commandment.5

So today’s four-card spread looks like this:

  • Past: The Tower
  • Present: Six of Wands
  • Future: Knight of Swords (reversed)
  • Me (Querent): Ten of Pentacles (reversed)

What this spread says when I read it as “my own brain talking”

Past: The Tower

The Tower is the “collapse card.” Sudden disruption. The moment the old structure can’t pretend it’s stable anymore. If I’m being honest, it fits the last stretch of my life a little too well: the kind of change that doesn’t ask permission and doesn’t care if you were ready.6

Present: Six of Wands

The Six of Wands is a “small victory” card. Recognition. Momentum. Proof that I’m not just surviving, I’m moving forward in some visible way. And today’s version of that might be simple: I woke up, I didn’t spiral, and I’m steering the morning instead of the morning steering me. That counts.

Future: Knight of Swords (reversed)

Reversed, this one reads to me like: watch the impulse to rush. Watch the urge to cut through the problem with a sword when what I actually need is a screwdriver. It can be scattered energy, sharp words, mental overdrive, or charging ahead before the facts are fully on the table.7

Translation: don’t mistake speed for progress. Don’t turn “decisive” into “reactive.”

Me: Ten of Pentacles (reversed)

This lands like “security anxiety.” Long-term stability, money, home, family, legacy, the idea of a life that holds together—showing up flipped. Not necessarily “doom,” but a spotlight: the foundation feels unstable, and I’m carrying that stress whether I say it out loud or not.8

So the reading isn’t telling me the future. It’s telling me what’s already in the room with me: I’m rebuilding after collapse, I’m craving proof that I’m not invisible, I need to slow my thinking down before it turns into a weapon, and I’m still trying to reassemble a sense of stability that got cracked.

The sociological angle: why “listen first” matters

Here’s where I loop this back into work, systems, and that whole “don’t make unilateral decisions without understanding the environment” thing.

Organizations run on more than policies and org charts. They run on tacit knowledge: the stuff people know because they’ve lived it—workarounds, context, relationships, and the real reasons the system behaves the way it does.9 When new leadership shows up and starts swinging the axe without doing due diligence, they don’t just cut “costs.” They cut memory. And then they act surprised when the machine stops running smoothly.

And there’s a face-to-face layer, too: workplaces are held together by small “interaction rituals” of respect, listening, and basic human acknowledgment. Break those, and you don’t just lose efficiency—you lose trust and cooperation.10

What I’m doing with this today

I’m treating this spread as a practical prompt, not a prophecy:

  1. Tower: What’s already fallen, and what am I still trying to pretend didn’t?
  2. Six of Wands: What’s one real win from the last 24 hours that I’m dismissing too fast?
  3. Knight of Swords (rev): Where am I about to rush, lash out, or “solve” something by force?
  4. Ten of Pentacles (rev): What’s one small step I can take today that supports long-term stability?

A simple micro-ritual for the next 24 hours

  • 5 minutes: coffee/tea + silence (no screens)
  • 10 minutes: one “foundation task” (money, paperwork, résumé, cleaning one small area—something boring but stabilizing)
  • 2 minutes: write down one win (even if it’s just “I didn’t spiral”)

That’s it. No grand transformation. Just structure. Just traction. Just a hand on the wheel.

Godspeed.

Footnotes

  1. Hobson, N. M., Schroeder, J., Risen, J. L., Xygalatas, D., & Inzlicht, M. (2018). The psychology of rituals: An integrative review and process-based framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22, 260–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317734944 ↩
  2. Norton, M. I., & Gino, F. (2014). Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and lotteries. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031772 ↩
  3. Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 998–1009. ↩
  4. Martell, C. R., Dimidjian, S., & Herman-Dunn, R. (2010). Behavioral activation for depression: A clinician’s guide. The Guilford Press. ↩
  5. Semetsky, I. (2006). Tarot as a projective technique. Spirituality and Health International, 7, 187–197. https://doi.org/10.1002/shi.252 ↩
  6. Waite, A. E. (1910). The pictorial key to the tarot: Being fragments of a secret tradition under the veil of divination. William Rider & Son. ↩
  7. Greer, M. K. (2002). Tarot for your self: A workbook for personal transformation. Red Wheel/Weiser. ↩
  8. Pollack, R. (2019). Seventy-eight degrees of wisdom: A tarot journey to self-awareness (Rev. ed.). Weiser Books. ↩
  9. Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. Anchor Books. ↩
  10. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Aldine Publishing. ↩

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Published by Lugh Sulian

Lugh Sulian Standing on the Ledge · Rebuilding from the Rubble Lugh Sulian is a working name for a working moment. This profile exists to hold Standing on the Ledge: Rebuilding from the Rubble—an ongoing, real-time record of what happens after collapse, when old rules stop functioning and new ones haven’t yet earned trust. This is not myth reenactment. Not spiritual bypass. Not curated healing. It’s a field journal from the threshold. The name Lugh points toward skill, clarity, and responsibility carried with awareness. Sulian gestures toward sight—what can be seen when illusion drops away and pretending becomes too expensive. Together, they frame the posture of this work: to look clearly, act deliberately, and refuse to rebuild what already failed. Through short-form video, spoken reflection, and long-form writing, this project explores: Collapse without spectacle Responsibility without authority Burnout as a systems problem, not a personal flaw Pagan cycles as lived practice, not aesthetic Small fires instead of grand rebuilds This space is intentionally unfinished. It documents: Standing still without freezing Moving forward without rushing Learning from rubble instead of hiding it Unplugged-Pagan.com serves as the grounding—seasonal awareness, ritual stripped of performance, and meaning built from experience rather than doctrine. Standing on the Ledge is one expression of that grounding, focused on the human cost of broken systems and the slow work of rebuilding integrity. This is not a teaching platform. It’s a shared watchpost. If you’re here, you’re likely between versions of yourself—tired, alert, uncertain, and still standing. You don’t need answers yet. You need honesty, boundaries, and permission to move at the speed of truth. No conclusions offered. No certainty promised. Still on the ledge. Still watching. Still working the rubble. Godspeed. Optional Short Versions (for profile headers or bios) Short bio (Facebook / site header): Threshold work. Pagan-rooted, process-driven. Documenting collapse, clarity, and the refusal to rebuild what failed.

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