The universe was trying to get my attention. First, I saw Daniel Levin’s Zen Cards in my acupuncturist’s office, spread out on the waiting room table. Then a friend emailed me about them, the very next day. And two days later, I saw them in a gift shop. Finally clueing in, I bought them.
I had a class to teach on Interpersonal Conflict a few days later, so I brought the cards with me and used them in a warm-up exercise I came up with on the drive to campus. They were a big hit with my grad students. Said one, “Such a simple idea, but with a rather profound invitation to reflect deeply.”
Zen Cards is a deck of 50 cards with one Zen-related theme per card. One side of the card names the theme (e.g., Right Action, Inner Peace, Kindness, Harmony, Forgiveness) and the reverse succinctly describes the intention of that theme. They’re beautifully crafted and sturdy.
I’ve found myself pulling them out to muse about conflict, its resolution, the debris it leaves, and the way it serves us well.
Conflict Zen® by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at ConfictZen.Lenski.com.
