WHAT ARE
PEAR CARDS?

WRITTEN BY ROBYN CAREY SANYAL
Los Angeles native Robyn is a founding member of the ENDPAIN team. When she's not at her desk, you can find her harvesting goods from her backyard garden or in the kitchen cooking her way through a cookbook. She's not the best cook, but experimentation in the kitchen is her preferred practice of meditation.
What are PEAR Cards?

If you’ve ever responded to a parent’s inquiry about school with I didn’t learn anything, then you’re not unlike PEAR Cards co-founder, Nathan Anderson, or most other youth for that matter. But to Nathan’s mother’s credit, this disengaged communication style wasn’t going to cut it. So when he was 14-years old, she started handwriting cards with engaging questions that required thoughtful responses.

This conversational activity was the foundation by which Nathan and his childhood friend, Matthew Roberts, came up with the idea of producing a card game set called PEAR However, it may not have been without the pain of losing a close friend to a tragic accident that they would have been inspired to start the project. “Without connections, without the people in our lives, without being able to open up, it’s not a very positive existence,” says Nathan. And when Nathan and Matthew started casually playing with Nathan’s mom’s handwritten cards at parties, they saw how the questions supported deep and thoughtful dialogue amongst diverse groups. “Everyone should have moments like [those] where we can connect, engage, and get to know each other.”

PEAR Cards, which stands for Positive Engagement and Response, are a set of 100 cards that can be used in social settings to engage groups in positive and deep conversation. The set includes 12 positive affirmations for setting intentions, 65 individual prompts and 20 group questions for dialogue, and three “create your own cards.” Within the set, you will find prompts like, “Something I love about myself is ______”, “Three items on my bucket list are ______”, and “What can we do for the betterment of our community?”.

ENDPAIN loves PEAR not only because they support meaningful communication, but because the project is seeking to shift current cultural norms of self-expression, especially amongst men and youth. As technology continues to dominate our attention and society grapples with the pain of gender violence, PEAR cards are a simple tool that is supportive of expressive dialogue and real-life community building. We truly believe that every business, classroom, therapist, and home should have a set.

Matthew and Nathan are now celebrating the success of fully funding their project with Kickstarter and will begin production soon. To obtain your own PEAR Cards, visit their website and sign up for their newsletter. They will be officially available for purchase in January 2018.

TAGGED WITH:
Community
Depression
Friendship
Healing Tools
Masculinity
Mental Health
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