Six channels: how I cope
Six cards for six coping channels, to see what holds you up and which channel barely gets used.
The technique below lives inside Self-Work Navigator on our platform – open it and the steps walk you through automatically.
Open Self-Work NavigatorAbout this technique
Six channels: how I cope is a 25-minute self-reflection technique with metaphorical associative cards (MAC). Six cards for six coping channels, to see what holds you up and which channel barely gets used. The session is designed to be run on your own, in your browser, without a therapist or a registration step.
It fits when there is a load that is not going away soon, and you want to know what carries it. On the platform the steps walk you through automatically inside Self-Work Navigator, so you don't have to remember anything beyond the question you brought. We recommend starting with Light Within – it lands well for this kind of work.
When this technique fits
- There is a load that is not going away soon, and you want to know what carries it.
- The feeling that you always cope the same way, and that way is wearing out.
- You want to widen your set of supports in advance, rather than when it gets hard.
When it doesn't fit
- If what you need now is to breathe out rather than to work something out, take Safe place: one card and fewer moves.
- If you are looking for the cause of what is happening, this is not the technique. It is about ways of coping, not about the source of the load.
What you need
- 25 minutes alone.
- Any deck, ideally one with everyday scenes.
- Paper and a pen: write the six channels down so they do not blur together.
The layout
6 positions. Each one has its own question, and the card in it answers that question rather than the whole request.
- 1Belief and meaningWhat do I believe that helps me hold on?
- 2FeelingsHow do I live through what I feel?
- 3PeopleWho is nearby, and what comes from them?
- 4ImaginationWhat do I fill my imagination with?
- 5ThinkingHow do I turn this over?
- 6BodyWhat do I do with my body?
How the session goes
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1
Name the situation
Not your whole life, but one load: overwork, an illness in the family, a move, a stretch of uncertainty. The one that is running right now and will not end tomorrow.
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2
Cards 1-3 face up: belief, feelings, people
Pick three cards with your eyes, one per channel.
Belief and meaning: what you believe that helps you hold on. It does not have to be religion: a principle, a conviction, a sense of what all this is for.
Feelings: how you live emotions through. Tears, music, sport, talking, anger into a pillow.
People: who is nearby, and what comes from them.
- What on each card is about how I cope?
- Which of these three switches on by itself?
- Which one barely switches on at all?
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3
Cards 4-6 face up: imagination, thinking, body
Three more, again with your eyes.
Imagination: daydreams, books and films, play, humour.
Thinking: how you turn it over, sort it out, reframe it.
Body: sleep, food, movement, breath, touch.
- What is on each card?
- Which channel do I use more than I thought?
- Which channel is silent?
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4
Look at all six together
Six cards in front of you. This is not a score but a map: everyone has some channels leading and some asleep. A weak channel is not a flaw, but it may turn out to be the only working one when the usual channel fails.
- Which two channels do I lean on most?
- Which channel is asleep although it used to work?
- What happens if my usual channel becomes unavailable?
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5
One channel to work on
Take the thinnest one and find one specific action in it for the coming week. Small: not "start running" but "walk one stop instead of riding".
- What one action will I add?
- What is already in this channel that I never counted as support?
Closing the session
Gather the cards and keep the list of the six channels. It is more useful than the layout: in a hard moment it is easier to pick from six written lines than to remember what usually carries you.
If a lot came up
Sometimes the layout shows that one channel out of six is doing all the work. That is an honest and unpleasant result. It does not mean you cope badly; it means the reserve is narrow. Channels are easier to add in a calm time than in a hard one, and that can be done together with a therapist.
Recommended decks
About metaphorical associative cards (MAC)
Metaphorical associative cards (MAC) are a projective tool used in self-reflection, coaching and therapy. Unlike tarot or oracle cards, they don't predict anything – the image becomes a mirror for what is already happening inside you, helping you put words on something that was unclear or hard to say directly.
You can work with MAC cards alone, with a therapist, or in a group. The card itself is not the answer; it is a frame for asking yourself a more honest question. The same image can mean very different things to two different people on the same day, and that is exactly what makes the tool work.