Aha! Moments: Exercise 2 - Use Cards to Help Clients Get Unstuck, Find Clarity & Possibility | by Marcy Nelson-Garrison

Use a Card Deck with Beautiful or Inspiring Images!

This is another exercise that works with imagery to access intuition to go deeper with clients. Images provide access to intuition, expand awareness and allow creative solutions to surface.

When a client is stuck the tendency is to try to "think harder". This only sends them circling over the same territory again and again and that rarely yields anything new.

To create a breakthrough moment it's important to get clients "out of their head" by introducing some non-verbal stimuli. Imagery is a perfect choice.

Choosing a card from a beautiful imagery based card deck offers a powerful way to access intuition. The image can trigger associations, memories, stories and words that can cut through the noise the inner critic generates. No matter what the topic, new insight can be gained by using a card deck.

This exercise can be done in a coaching session or assigned as homework. If doing this exercise in a coaching session, the client could bring a favorite deck to the session, or you could use one of your card decks - offering the client a choice if you have more than one deck.

Exercise 2 - Clarity, Action, Possibility - A Three Card Spread

• Use: Individual Session / Homework
• Best When: Client is stuck, faced with a decision or a challenge
• You will need: A beautiful deck of image-based cards (supplied by you or the client)

Overview:

1. Start by identifying the current business challenge, decision or idea that is on the table.
2. "Set the intention" that the cards chosen will provide exactly what is needed.
3. 3 cards will be drawn, one at a time. Reflect on each card drawn before moving to the next one.
4. Then review the card spread as a whole.

Card #1 - Ask for clarification

• Set the intention that this card will clarify some aspect of the choice, challenge or idea.
• As coach, explore the meaning this card points to.
• As homework: Journal about the meaning of this card

Card #2 - Ask for an action step

• Set the intention that this card will point to a next step.
• As coach, explore the meaning this card points to.
• As homework: Journal about the meaning of this card

Card #3 - Ask what is possible

• Set the intention that this card will open up the field and speak to possibilities, surprises and unknowns.
• As coach, explore the meaning this card points to.
• As homework: Journal about the meaning of this card

Finally, once you have done this with each card, reflect on the card spread as a whole and distill down the meaning from the exercise.

Last Thoughts

Trust your coaching skills and your client's intuition in the exploration process. Avoid your own interpretation of the meanings, your job is to help them find the wisdom within that the cards represent for your client.

©2016 Marcy Nelson-Garrison

If you liked this article on Getting Unstuck, Card Decks and Aha! Moments, you may also like:

• Our Coaching Exercise: The Unstick Yourself Now! Worksheet
• Aha! Moments - Exercise 1 - Working with Imagery to Access Intuition & Go Deeper with Clients
• Use Affirmative Writing To Get Clients Unstuck And Connected To Their Goals | by Lynda Monk
• Just Make Up Your Mind! 7 Fun Ways To Make Decisions

Contributing Author:

Marcy Nelson-Garrison is a transformational product mentor, certified professional co-active coach, visual artist and the founder of the Coaching Toys online store. Coaching since 1999, Marcy has a passion for applying creative processes to personal development. She is the Author of Creating Aha Moments, Creative Right-Brain Coaching Exercises for Individual, Group and Team Breakthroughs, The card deck: Q? Basics, Open-Ended Questions For Coaching Mastery and the popular Card Deck Master Class. You can sign-up for Marcy's newsletter and download the eBooks Creating Aha Moments and 10 Ways To Profit From Creating a Card Deck free here >>

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