The 8 of Swords from a pocket version of The Marseilles Deck found in a charity shop.
It's been said many times but it really is the best way to learn how the cards relate to daily life: pulling a daily card is one of the best exercises in learning the language of tarot.
It helps me to take stock of my day and my week. If you don't already, I would encourage you to try it. It can shed light on your daily interactions and show you just how the tarot cards really do reflect our individual daily lives. Try just pulling a card from your deck whenever you feel like it and relate it to that moment in your life. Your insights may surprise you.
Everyone agrees that writing a daily tarot journal is a great idea. It focuses the mind and is a memory aid. Okay, I have to admit that I have never been able to do it regularly myself. Oh, I've written reams about tarot over the years and I do often jot down sudden insights that come to me at odd times during the day. But they are usually in random notebooks or on pieces of paper that I 'file' in unlikely places and come across when looking for an address or a recipe or a pattern. So, yes it's a great idea to journal. And I often wish I did it on a regular basis. But the 8 of Swords above is telling me that I only have to be decisive and if I really want to journal, well, I absolutely will do it!