Good Deal - Ice Cream for the Soul by Joy Koenig, MD - Personal Growth, Wellness, Healthy Lifestyle, Meditation, Inspiration

A GOOD DEAL HAPPIER
CATEGORY

        Meditation Game

DESCRIPTION

        Make your own set of cards. Use them to play a relaxing game of solitaire.

INSTRUCTIONS

        Card games can be used as meditation tools, especially the game of solitaire. You can use the computer or an actual deck of cards. To make your own cards, use unlined blank index cards. Make up your own card suits instead of using the classic playing card suits of clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades. Choose stress management words (peace, calm, rest and relaxation), or words reflecting suits based on qualities you want to bring into your life (abundance, romance, patience and kindness). Better yet, make the suits objects that bring you joy -- the 3 of wine or hot cocoa, the 5 of tennis or golf, the 8 of friendship or intimacy, the 10 of frozen yogurt or ice cream.

RELATED IDEA

        Make your own Tarot, Oracle or Fortune Telling cards. Did you know that each Myers-Briggs® type has a corresponding Tarot Court card?

JOY'S JOURNEY

        I stumbled across the meditative effects of playing solitaire during a period of unemployment. I was so overwhelmed by where and how to start a new career, I was unable to move forward. With so much unfilled time on my hands all my "what if's" surfaced. My concentration was too scattered by fear to do anything productive. Generating optimism was a new skill, and the best I could do at that time was hope to suppress or ignore my "what if's". Wanting to at least keep my hands and mind busy, I started playing solitaire on my computer. It soon became a compulsion, almost an addiction. I couldn't seem to play often enough or long enough to the point I actually developed tendonitis in my mouse hand. Then the reverse started happening and playing one or two games was enough. My fear and doubt were slowly replaced by ideas of where and how to start my career again. Focusing on nothing but "red or black" and "six or Jack" had let my spirit get her voice in edgewise.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards,
but of playing a poor hand well.
Robert Louis Stevenson

When your opponent's sittin' there holdin' all the aces,
there's only one thing to do: kick over the table.
Dean Martin

Dr. Joy is available to present playful workshops (playshops) at your corporate training retreat, non profit organization gathering, or club membership meetings. She is located in Denver, Colorado, and travels throughout the US to deliver Serious Fun ™ Programs for personal growth, wellness, and inspiration. Please see the program pages for details and contact information.

This playful meditation activity is COPYRIGHTED. If you are a professional trainer, coach, human resources person, counselor, or therapist it is not ethical nor legal for you to use it or share it with your clients or those you supervise/train as part of your job. See the copyright notice on the front page of this e-book. Remember, character is what you do when no one is looking. Please take the high road, and pay me appropriately to use these materials professionally, even if you work for a church, school, non-profit or the government.