The Intelligence of Staying Alive
Explore the intelligence behind
your survival instincts.
These poetic cards honor
freeze, flight, fawn, fight,
and more as the brilliant ways
your body chose to live.
Honoring Hypervigilance
Do you find yourself bracing,
even when nothing is wrong?
Rechecking, over-preparing,
staying one step ahead—
just in case?
That’s not paranoia.
It’s a body that remembers
what it took to stay safe.
But what if you didn’t have to
stay on guard forever?
What if rest was possible, even now?
Honoring Freeze
When you couldn’t run or fight,
your body chose stillness.
Not because you were broken —
but because you were brilliant.
This card honors freeze not as failure,
but as sacred resistance.
Honoring Fawning
You called it kindness.
You called it care.
But really, you disappeared
so they wouldn’t leave.
Fawning isn’t weakness —
it’s survival.
A way your nervous system said:
“If I stay soft enough, maybe I’ll stay safe enough.”
But now, safety doesn’t have to mean self-erasure.
Your no is sacred too.