A Cottage Industry of Cards

In the Midwinter, I joined a group of women taking a course in nonviolent communication (NVC). I'll be writing more about the insights I've been gaining from the class, but for the moment, I want to share about one of the tools we use: Feelings & Needs Cards!

I have a thing for decks of cards. In the past several years  I've purchased a variety of decks for myself or as gifts for friends:

The first NVC Deck I made.

• The InterPlay Inspiration Deck designed by Anita Bondi
• On & Off the Mat: Yoga Wisdom Cards by Melanie Weidner
• Yoga Pretzels and Yoga Planet decks from Barefoot Books
• Women & the Hourglass Affirmation Cards created by Marylou Falstreau
• Mindful Moments Cards from Yoga Calm
• Points of You: The Coaching Game

So it's no surprise that I was eager to customize the printouts our teacher shared with us. It started with making my own decks (one to keep in my office and one to carry around in my purse/bag) and then making a deck for a friend's birthday. Then I couldn't stop. I gave one of the decks to a seminary student, made decks for the other women in the class, and one for my good spouse who's now part of a men's NVC class. Then I had to make a second deck for myself after giving one of the decks away. We joked that I could make more decks and sell them on Etsy. 

I grabbed some mandalas and artwork from the good ol' internet, bought a bunch of corresponding colored cardstock at a local arts 'n' craft box store, along with some fabric for the bags. Then I used a (color) laser printer to print the cards and used a combination of paper cutter and scissors to separate the cards from the 8.5 x 11" prints.

Each deck has a selection of Feelings cards, most have a full compliment of Needs cards, and then a "deck" guide that has all the Feelings and Needs words, Empathy Buddy guidelines, along with credits. 

Of course, you can also buy a deck of Feelings and Needs cards (which I did!). We keep them at home and break them out when guests come over. There are all kinds of games we can play with them, all helping grow the amount of empathy in the world!