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 Dissociation
Dissociation isn’t failure.
It’s a pause.
A wise retreat by a system that
learned how to protect us.
If you’ve ever felt like the world was far away,
like you were moving
but not inside your body—
this is for you.
Honoring Flopping/Submit
When resistance felt impossible,
your body chose surrender.
This card honors the Flop/Submit response
as a wise, wordless way
to survive overwhelming power.
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.