Chaos Cards & The Game of Life

Think about the importance of utilizing randomness. Many of the most discoveries happened by accident. What might you be missing out on by getting too caught up routine. “Chaos Cards” is a guide to create a mini deck of cards that you can pull from to interject new thoughts and actions into your day. This article reviews one category of “Chaos Cards” that you can make at home today. If you want to create a whole deck, sign up for the next “Chaos Cards” workshop.

When To Use “Chaos Cards”

When you’re feeling stuck
When you’re trapped in monotony
When it’s time to let go of control
When you want to discover something new

Letting Go Of Control

Write down a list of 6 people you’d to connect with and 6 chores or “to -do” items that need to be done
Label your list 1 – 6
Roll a dice to see who you’ll contact and what you’ll catch up with today

Other Activities To Explore

“Tea Time” , an exercise to start your day with intention and find answers stains and spills

Questions To Get You Thinking…

How does is feel to let go of control ?
What do you think about sharing the role of power?
How does utilizing randomness relate to intuition ?
What situations can use randomness as a guide ?

Directions

Materials needed: blank index cards, pen, ( craft supplies optional )

If you don’t have index cards, fold a regular sheet of paper into eighths and cut out your own. ( no worries about crooked cuts )

Step 1: Explore Ideas

Think about how you can add an act of wondering to your day. Think about write yourself a set of directions or rules to follow that utilize chance. Brainstorm about ways to cultivate randomness and interact with chaos. Try to come up with 7 ideas for “Chaos Cards” that you can use to help you break out of your comfort zone.

Ideas & Inspiration

Incorporate the use of a dice or coin into your day
Go on a walk in your neighborhood, flip a coin to choose to wander left or right
Spend the day looking for a designated color, number, pattern, or symbol
Order the first and the last thing on the menu
Go to the library and look at every 30th book on a shelf
Take a visit to goodwill and leave with materials to construct something
Pick up your neighborhood events calendar and plan to attend the next event ( this also works for choosing continuing education classes at community college, the library or anywhere you might go, like a meet up)

Step 2: Create Your Own Cards

examples

( left ) “Visit the library and look at the 27th book. “This card sends me on a future wondering mission to the library to explore the 27th book on a random shelf in search of ideas related to the emergence of chaos and the development of language. Maybe the library existential questions are not your thing. You can adapt this idea to apply to anything. How about sending yourself to the grocery store and cooking a stir fry out of every 27th vegetable in the produce section. Send yourself to an art store and create something made out of every 27th item that you count upon entering. Choose a number that resonates with you, or use a random number generator to make the decision for you.

( middle )” Do the day in color.” This card sends me on a color mission of the day. When chosen, I roll a dice ( 1-6) to see which color I will spend the day looking for. I recommend this card for visual artists, but if color is not your thing think about how you can translate the idea to something that means more to you. Are there six sounds, scents, patterns, or topics that you could send yourself out to explore. If you don’t know what I mean by explore, I mean focus on, look for, seek out, and pay attention to. It’s amazing how much we’re surrounded by that we don’t pay attention to unless prompted.

( right ) “Take a walk led by the coin.” This card send me out on a walk to no where. Whenever I reach the end of the block I flip a coin to decide if I should turn right or left. You’ll see the magic that what happens when you find a new path to take. I recommend taking this card on all road trips and adventures. Think about how else a coin can guide your day. You can use a coin to guide you in anything that you can turn into a question of yes or no or this or that.

Additional Resources

Random number generators, random GPS coordinates, and all things random! random.org

Oblique Strategies deck, http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart: ” According to The Dice Man: “We all have minority impulses which are stifled by the normal personality and rarely break free into action.” Writing down a few different options is a way of acknowledging and recognizing the potential of the “minority impulse” that, in the end, may be a better choice than your ego can admit. Give yourself permission to explore wild ideas. ”

The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“It is my great hope someday, to see science and decision makers rediscover what the ancients have always known. Namely that our highest currency is respect.”
“We humans are the victims of an asymmetry in the perception of random events. We attribute our successes to our skills, and our failures to external events outside our control, namely to randomness.”
“Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.”
“The inability to predict outliers implies the inability to predict the course of history”
“If you survive until tomorrow, it could mean that either a) you are more likely to be immortal or b) that you are closer to death.”

Want to make a full deck ?

Join in on the next “Chaos Cards and The Game of Life” workshop. We’ll tap into a deeper understanding of randomness through the arts and explore how make each of the type of cards together.