My Inner States

About the deck

A deck about the states that steer a person’s decisions until they name them.

The deck holds 128 metaphorical associative cards with word descriptions of states and feelings: 64 pleasant and 64 heavy.

The deck works with the inner state at a particular moment in time: how a person reacts to the situation at hand, to an event, to particular people.

It helps uncover the negative states that keep you from moving forward, and at the same time pick out the positive ones you can use as an inner resource for growth and for reaching your goals.

The precise name of a state almost always lowers its power: while a feeling has no name it steers behavior, and once named it becomes material to work with.

The deck can be used as a deep diagnostic, clarifying, deepening, resourcing and supporting tool in counseling, therapy and psychological transformation games.

With the “My Inner States” deck you can

• diagnose your current inner state
• understand your emotional reactions to events and people
• uncover the reasons feelings arise
• determine which states keep you from moving forward
• pick out positive states as inner resources
• transform a negative reaction into one with more resource
• understand how emotions affect the decisions you make
• uncover inner barriers and limitations
• see how your state changes in different situations
• use the state you need deliberately to reach a goal

Questions to ask the deck

Work starts from these questions. Choose one, the one that speaks to you more strongly than the rest, and work with it, because only one state is worked through well in a single session.

1. What am I feeling now and what is it telling me?
2. Which emotions do I try to push down, and why?
3. How does this state affect my behavior?
4. Which inner barriers keep me from moving?
5. Which feelings do I have most often with those close to me?
6. Why do I react exactly this way and what is worth changing?
7. How is this feeling tied to my beliefs and fears?
8. What will help turn this state into a resourcing one?
9. Which state do I need to grow in order to reach my goal?
10. Which emotions limit me under stress?
11. Which feelings am I ready to let go of?
12. Which state will make me calmer and more sure of myself?

The whole series

“Inner World” is 10 decks that work as a single system: the weather inside, states, boundaries, needs, spaces, relationships, resource and motivation, supports, opportunities and freedom.

See the whole series →