The cards we are dealt in life
The playing cards you are dealt at the beginning of a game will
often determine how well you do in that game. Generally, ‘high’
cards like kings, queens and jacks put you in a strong position,
whereas ‘low’ cards such as 2, 3 or 4 are seen as a bad hand.
Yet there are so many card games where different cards and
suits mean different things.
Aces are sometimes high or sometimes low. Spades are sometimes ‘trumps’,
meaning that any spade will be higher than any card from another suit.
Jokers can sometimes be used as ‘wild’ cards, which means that they can be
whatever you want them to be.
The cards you were dealt at birth
Q: Which five cards would you pick to represent your life at birth?
[NB: You may wish to use these cards to reflect the era you
were born in, the parents you were given, your siblings, the life
chances you had or did not have.]
Card 1:
Card 2:
Card 3:
Card 4:
Card 5:
Once you have chosen your cards, take a look at them, together with all the other cards you did not pick.
Q: What do you think the cards say about your start in life?
The cards you have at this present moment in time
Think about yourself in the present moment. Do you still have the same cards
you had at birth, or have some of them — maybe even all of them — changed?
Card 1:
Card 2:
Card 3:
Card 4:
Card 5:
Again, once you have chosen your cards, have a look at them, as well as
looking at all the other cards you did not pick.
Q: What do you think the cards say about your life at this moment in time?
The cards you would like to have in the future
Think about the hopes or goals you have for the future.
Q: What cards might reflect these aims?
Card 1:
Card 2:
Card 3:
Card 4:
Card 5:
Q: What do these cards represent to you?
Q: What else might playing cards be useful for?
Q: Can you think of any other way to use playing cards
creatively to highlight different aspects of your life? For example:
Could certain cards represent all the significant people in your
life, starting with one card that is you, and then the next person
and the next person and so on?
[NB: If you do this last exercise on a table, try placing the cards
down one at a time, then deciding if you are happy with where
each card is in proximity to the card you have chosen for
yourself and also its proximity to other people’s cards.]
If you are interested in some of the ideas this article has raised, you may wish to visit www.selfdetective.net where you can
This is an extract from the book Starting Up Your Own Self Detective Agency which is available on Amazon
