ONCE UPON A BRIDGE
© DR. OFRA AYALON
NORD CARDS CENTER
'Light up your own torch and find your own road! ‘
The Bridge Cards are metaphoric cards that facilitate raising awareness and enhancing communication in individual and group work.
The cards can help us in many ways; through them we can envision a reality beyond familiar uncover meaningful decisions develop insight, listen empathically and shareprofound and authentic feelings. We can allow ourselves to lose our way and then find the bridge that will move us to a safe place; we can discover opportunities for eliminating barriers and welcoming change.
Metaphoric Cards as bridges in therapy
The cards can bridge over a variety of polarities both in our inner experience and in our interpersonal relations such as:
Between reason and emotion, between pictures and words, between the inner child and the adult, between despair and hope, between dreams and fulfillment, between fear and courage, between doubts and faith, between me and the other (unknown, different, opponent), and between different cultures. The cards can trigger new ways of bridging the generation gap between parents and children, and also bridging communication gaps in couple relationships, to enable them to build bridges of mutual understanding, empathy and partnership.
The card deck "Once Upon a Bridge" becomes a treasure box from which we can extract tools and build an integrative "Bridge Therapy”.
On the bridge (guided fantasy)
Work in pairs: One reads the instructions and the other goes through the experience of guided fantasy. Switch roles.
Choose a card (face up or down). Look at it carefully in silence for one minute andthen close your eyes. In your mind's eye – you are on the bridge:
Now follow the guided imagery then answer the questions.
- Breathe the air around you. Notice the smells, the sounds, and the temperature.
- Feel the bridge under your feet. Stamp the bridge to check how stable it is.
- Find your balance; watch for any change which happens in your body.
- Notice your body reactions: dizziness, trembling, heartbeats, feeling hot or cold? Do you need to hold on to the railing?
Open your eyes and look at the card.
- What do you see in front of you?
- What do you see when you look back?
- Look under the bridge: do you see water, roads and abyss? Whatever is under the bridge corresponds to the undercurrents in your consciousness. When you become aware you gain better controlof your life.
Contemplation: in what way does this experience correspond with your life experiences? What new insight did you gain from it?