“Sleep on it.”

The entire suit of swords shows us wrestling with ideas and belief systems, struggling with our inner critic and mental health, and learning how to communicate. 4 of Swords stands in contrast to many of the other swords cards in that it shows stillness and repose. We often pull this card when we need a mental break. 4s in the Tarot are largely about rest and self-care, and if we take their advice, we can often avoid the depletion or breakdown of our energy that we see come in the 5s. So if you draw 4 of Swords, this is a call to disengage from whatever problem you’ve been trying to solve, or project you’ve been trying to finish, and just relax. Sometimes our best ideas come to us when we allow ourselves to rest, to nap, to daydream, and 4 of Swords is a reminder that taking a break isn’t throwing in the towel. Likewise, this card can ask that we surrender, which doesn’t have to mean “give up”, but can mean handing our struggles over to a higher power. And because 4s relate to the Emperor (the Major Arcana 4), there can be an element of discipline and practice to all 4s, and in the Swords we could interpret that as a suggestion to develop a meditation (or some sort of mindfulness) practice.