“There are three things that are extremely difficult to do: break the steel, crush the diamond, and know yourself,” said Benjamin Franklin. However, there are ways to get to know yourself that make this task easier. How do metaphorical maps help us with this?
See what’s inside
First of all, metaphorical associative maps were conceived precisely in order to know oneself and move forward on the path of one’s own development. To study yourself, you can take story, universal, abstract, fairy tale, portrait decks, as well as cards with archetypes or subpersonalities.
Questions to the cards in this case should be directed to you and what is happening inside you. If they concern your life and behavior in society, then they should relate to your inner motivations and motives.
Example questions to ask yourself
- What / what am I?
- How / what do I want to appear?
- What am I hiding?
- What do I want to show?
- How do I feel in society?
- How do other people influence me?
- What is stopping me from feeling happy?
- What are my strengths or weaknesses?
- What can I change about myself?
- What do I need to appreciate in myself?
Practical example
Ekaterina worked with a deck of metaphorical cards “Reflection”. This is what I saw about myself, asking two questions and pulling out two cards, respectively.
- What is stopping me from feeling happy?
- What do I need to change in myself?
About the first card – “What prevents me from feeling happy?” – Ekaterina said: “I want to be cool too much for everyone to see that I am strong, strong-willed, that I can do anything. I spend a lot of energy on this mask. And I have little strength left to live my real life.
This little bird on the card is not getting the attention and love it needs.”
The second card is “What do I need to change in myself?” — made her think: “I need to stop always counting on a complete victory and the biggest piece of the pie. For some reason, I decided that I should have all the best, and I should be perfect, a kind of superwoman.
I’m not ready for defeat and trouble. All this throws me off track. Maybe if I can at least a little lower my high demands on life and, first of all, on myself, then it will become easier for me to live? And then I can be happier.”
How to make the right choice? We find the answer with the help of metaphorical cards
What to do in a difficult situation? Suggest metaphorical cards
You can look into yourself and get tips with a deck created specifically for our project:Metaphorical cards Psychologies