Ideas for Using
BioGraffs
There are so many ways! Making a BioGraff can be powerful: you might realize some things from the new perspective you get. But there's more to the BioGraff experience.
Sharing your BioGraff is the real BioGraff superpower. Talk about it. Take a picture of your BioGraff and send it to someone that you want to understand you better. Your BioGraff can help shape a conversation so you feel more understood and more heard. For more connection and understanding.
Here are some ideas for using your BioGraffs.
Talking About Something
Emotional, Difficult, or Complex
In a typical conversation, does it ever feel like the other person is just thinking about what they are going to say when you stop talking, just waiting for their turn? It's actually really typical of human conversation. And it can make it hard to really tell your whole story.
Your BioGraff is like a talking stick with pictures. It holds your place in a conversation, and holds attention.
With your BioGraff between you, now there is a focus. The BioGraff invites curiosity and creates the opportunity to expound on particular points in your story, without losing the main thread.
The visual can help you share your perspective about a difficult topic AS A STORY. This give both you and the listener just enough distance from what you are communicating so that you can connect on what your story is really saying. Try it out, and see how it changes the conversation.
Date Night Activity
BioGraffs can be a deeply connecting activity to do with a partner - and it can be really fun too!
Your BioGraffs set has enough cubes for you and your partner to each make a BioGraff. Pick out a title to try together. You might be really surprised what comes up!
Make BioGraffs of your favorite sexual flow and then compare - how are they the same or different?
Make BioGraffs of a conflict, and see how the other sees it
Make BioGraffs of a good day together, and then try to have it!
When you are ready to talk about your BioGraffs, take turns telling the story. Let one of you tell the whole story of their BioGraff, and let the other person focus on listening. Here's some tips for what the listening partner should try to do:
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Repeat back what you are hearing to make sure you have it right: "So you are saying you want to lie in bed talking about our plans, first. Is that right?"
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Ask questions about the BioGraff: "What does it mean that this red cube is down here?"
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Ask for more: "Tell me more about these blue cubes," or "Say more about how this feels."
Getting on the Same Page
Do have plans for the future or a big change to make with another person, like a partner, or a child?
BioGraff it!
Try each making a BioGraffs about your expectations or hopes. Then compare and discuss. You might be surprised how different your ideas actually are when you thought you were in agreement. Use the BioGraffs to come to a place of more clarity.
Consent
Make a BioGraff before having sex with a new person. You'll each have a good idea of the other person's expectation, preferences, and desires. And it's a fun and sexy, pre-sex activity!
If you planning a kinky scene with a play partner, you can work out exactly what is desired, and where the boundaries are.
For anyone who'd appreciate a different conversation modality
BioGraffs can be really helpful for neurodivergent folks who might have differing ways of communicating their perspectives.
Or anyone who has a hard time saying something important.
Friend's Night
Get a set for everyone - or use other objects so everyone can make a BioGraff. Let everyone browse the titles and find one most relevant to their lives. Allow about 15 minutes for people to make their BioGraffs. Go around the circle and let everyone share something about themselves with a BioGraffs story. Especially great if there's some people that tend to talk less in a group. Here are some other things that can work instead of cubes:
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buttons
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cut up construction paper
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stickers (but stick them to something so they can be moved around. Like put them on pennies)
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beans, nuts, dried fruit
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candy
Psychedelic Prep and Integration
A psychedelic journey creates meaning that is difficult to put into words. Integration is a process of taking the wisdom gained in the experience and bringing into daily life, to allow the power of a transformative experience to carry forward.
BioGraffs creates a way to tie complex thoughts to discrete objects, that can be manipulated to express the ineffable. A single cube is tagged to a few words that represents an entanglement of thoughts, which is then is transformed an interrelated whole through design and metaphor. In the storytelling phase of the method, the legend will serve as a reminder of the whole, without having to have gone through the constrictive process of creating whole sentences, and maintains visually each idea's connection to a bigger picture. An good alternative, or addition, to journaling in the process of integration.