Apart from our conversation cards, one question we get a lot is “Well, how do I use my Odder Being cards?” We know the cards are cute, but don’t just let them sit on your bookshelf and gather dust. There are many things you can do with the prompts. So let’s discuss 5 ways you can use them to help you live life on your terms.
Use your cards to set monthly goals
Rita Mae Brown wrote ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’[1]. If you want your life to align more with what you want, you’ll need to start implementing changes. Your cards can help with that. Here’s a small practice you may want to try:
- On the first day of every month (but feel free to start today!), randomly draw or intentionally pick 3 cards from your favorite Odder Being deck.
- Answer the question on each card.
- Ask yourself whether what you want already aligns with what you have right now. So for instance, if you answered “What personality traits do your ideal friends have?” (from the Odder Being Vision Cards) with ‘spontaneity and a sense of adventure’, check whether this is true for the people you’re currently friends with.
- If there’s a gap between what you want and what you have, decide on 1 thing you’re going to do this month to get closer to your vision. For instance, you may want to go to some adventure event to meet new people or invite your friends to do something wild.
Start a drawing practice
You really don’t have to be talented to enjoy drawing. Even if you stick to stick figures, drawing is a great way to calm a busy brain and get you in touch with your senses a bit more. Well, why not start a drawing practice and use your cards as prompts?
Randomly choose one card a day and sketch your answer. For instance, if you picked “How often and how long do your breaks need to be for you to be both productive and relaxed?” (from our Career cards) you may want to doodle a pie chart of what your working day looks like. You could even make small drawings that represent what you do on your breaks!
Explore your beliefs
If you’re into personal growth and mindset, you may be familiar with inner work such as IFS, shadow work, The Work by Byron Katie or one of the many other systems out there that help you get to the bottom of your beliefs (especially so-called ‘limiting beliefs’, ideas that hold you back from building the kind of life you want). These can be complemented wonderfully with the cards.
For instance, if you set aside Tuesday nights for your mental practice, you may choose a card that’s relevant to what’s going on in your life (or, again, just pick one at random). Let’s say you draw “What’s the best way your partner can make you feel loved?” from our Relationship Vision Cards and you answer that you mainly feel loved if your partner verbally tells you how much they love you a lot.
Now, you can use this answer and your favorite techniques to explore why hearing your partner loves you is important to you.
Grow together with a support group
Using the cards in a group setting is a great way to hold each other accountable and help each other set your goals. Of course, you can do this in a work setting (for instance with fellow business owners), but you can also have a group for personal goals. My first mastermind group was all over the place. I remember at one point my goal was to travel to a different continent, one of my friends wanted to launch her creative business, the other wanted to slowly get back to work after a burnout, and the fourth friend wanted to prepare everything for her wedding. Although we each had different goals, we would still gather every month and help each other move forward.
Apart from a general friend group mastermind (the Vision Cards would work great here), there are many others you may want to consider:
- A mastermind for business owners (stay tuned for our Entrepreneur Cards)
- A family group
- A hobby group such your knitting group or swim team
- A support group for new parents (grab our digital Vision Cards for Parents)
- A group for kids (try our Kids’ Quest-ions)
- … and many others
Inspire others with your vision
Are you a blogger, booming on Instagram or hosting your own podcast? And do you ever find yourself stuck when looking for inspiration or ideas to create something new and wonderful? Use your favorite Odder Being deck to create new content and share your vision. Amy from Coffee & Kink does just that on her blog, sharing her ideas about the different prompts from the Polyamory Conversation Cards. You can read her thoughtful essays here.
As always, discover what works for you
In the end, Odder Being is about living life your way, so how you use the cards may also be different from how everyone else uses them. Try different uses and find out what works best for you. And of course, if you already have a favorite practice, please share it with the rest of the community!
[1] Yep. We know this quote is usually attributed to Einstein. Apparently, that’s wrong.
