Associative cards “Family History”

Description

“FAMILY HISTORY” is a working tool intended for family psychologists and psychotherapists, and also used by social workers, counselors, classroom teachers, and coaches on issues relating to family life. The set of “Family Constellations” associative cards is designed basing upon the principles of system family psychotherapy and systemic constellations method by Bert Hellinger (Germany).

1. “We all were children once” – choose up to 5 cards that may “sting you to the quick” by their stories recalling some painful event in your childhood concerning your relationships with your parents. Tell about the association with each card. How did those events affect your adult life? Are you trying to behave differently in your family when you became grown-up? Maybe you have understood your parents and now do the same things as they did? Maybe you would like to act differently, but keep doing the same things as your parents did towards you? Can you say that some situations are left in the past completely and that they do not affect your present life? What resources did help you to turn over this page of your biography? How could these resources help you with respect to other issues?

You may choose “Life is a Miracle” card combination. Draw 1 to 3 cards from “Life is a Miracle” deck that demonstrate you the resources that could help your inner child to experience senses of heaviness from the past conclusively.

4. “Family Constellation”: it is used in combination with “Family Album” and/or “Facebook” cards. Choose the desired number of portraits in order to represent the members of your family system (your natural parents, grandparents, siblings, your blood relatives, your partner(s) including former ones, and children). Lay the card demonstrating the pattern of relations in front of each pair of your relatives – a card for your parents, a card for each grandfather-grandmother pair, a card for each of your marital relationship taking into account children of each marriage. Describe all the members of your family system and the events taking place on the card from “Family history” deck. Choose the plots for your work that affects you greatly at the moment. How does this story represent the events that happened in the families of your relatives? “Press” the card with two fingers (like standing on own legs), first tramp on the role of one of the participants of the situation, then tramp on the role of another one – and go on like this with all depicted roles. Pay attention to your own feelings, aspirations, and needs when standing on a role. How do you see the situation through the eyes of this family member? Draw conclusions after you took the role of each character. What have you learned from them? Do you have a sense of heaviness so far? What sense don`t you want to experience anymore?
5. My family and my other Selves. Choose one or more cards in order to demonstrate what is happening in your family at the moment between you and your partner (maybe children). Consider these cards. What’s going on between you? How do you actually interact with your loved ones? How would you like to interact? What kind of resources do you need so far in order to bring all your actions into line with love for him? Usage in combination with “Sweet Dreams” deck: choose a card or several cards from “Dreams” deck that personalize your desired resource and hold the card in your hands, then place it next to the first card and consider them together. How is your perception changed?
6. Transition. Take big sheet of paper, crayons and ink; in one corner of sheet place a card that describes something adverse that is happening in your family. Place a card demonstrating your family relationship elsewhere on sheet. Draw a road leading from the first card to the second one; every detail along the road will accompany you. It is possible to draw additional assistants and events. How do you feel when looking at the finished work? Optionally, you may hang your work in a prominent place.

© Eva Morozovsky

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