# MindTrays Faces & Expressions A deck of 60 watercolour faces caught in a wide range of expressions — joy, calm, sadness, fear, anger, shame, wonder and the in-between moments that are hard to name. Built to help clients, teenagers and self-reflectors find words for feelings. The cards don't label emotions: the meaning belongs to the person looking. ## MindTrays Faces & Expressions: A Visual Vocabulary for Feelings Naming a feeling is harder than it sounds. Many people — children, teenagers and adults alike — can sense that something is happening inside without finding the word for it. **Faces & Expressions** offers 60 watercolour faces caught in a wide range of expressions, so that a feeling can be pointed to before it can be named. The cards never label an emotion. A face that looks angry to one person reads as hurt or frightened to another, and that difference is the conversation. Like every MindTrays deck, this is a projective tool, not tarot: nothing is predicted, and the meaning belongs to the person looking. ### What this deck is for - Building **emotional vocabulary** — matching an inner state to a face, then finding the words. - Exploring **another person's perspective** in relationships, families and teams. - Noticing **mixed and hard-to-read feelings** that rarely fit a single word. - Therapy, coaching, school counselling, group work and personal reflection — in person or online. ### Structure 60 original watercolour portraits created for MindTrays, people of different ages and backgrounds, organised into eight clusters: 1. **Joy & Warmth** — laughter, pride, tenderness, quiet contentment. 2. **Calm & Presence** — listening, stillness, concentration, peace. 3. **Sadness & Loss** — grief, tiredness, numbness, longing. 4. **Fear & Worry** — startle, unease, watchfulness, dread. 5. **Anger & Frustration** — irritation, resentment, cold anger, exasperation. 6. **Shame, Withdrawal & Hiding** — the turned-away face, embarrassment, shyness. 7. **Surprise, Curiosity & Wonder** — amazement, intrigue, awe, scepticism. 8. **In-Between & Hard to Read** — smiles that don't reach the eyes, relief mixed with exhaustion, faces caught mid-expression. ### How to use - **In therapy:** "Choose the face closest to how you feel right now" — then explore where that feeling sits and what it needs. - **With teenagers:** pointing at a face is easier than producing the perfect sentence, which lowers defensiveness. - **In coaching and teams:** one face for yourself and one for the other person in a situation, placed side by side. - **For self-reflection:** pull a face at the end of the day and write down what it would say. - **In groups:** everyone picks a face for how a shared moment felt — the range of choices opens the discussion. ### Layouts - **Here & Now (1 card):** how I feel right now. - **Me & the Other (2 cards):** my face in this situation — the other person's face. - **Now → Wanted (2 cards):** how I feel — how I'd like to feel; then the small step between them. - **Mask & Underneath (2 cards):** the face I show — the feeling behind it. - **Feelings Map (4 cards):** what I show — what I hide — what I need — what helps. ### Why it works - We read faces instinctively, long before we have words for what we see. - Open, unlabelled expressions invite projection instead of a correct answer. - A wide range of ages and backgrounds lets people find themselves — and others — in the deck. - Works on MindTrays' shared board, so a client can choose and place their own cards in an online session. _MindTrays Faces & Expressions — when a feeling is hard to name, a face can offer the first word._ ## Cards (60) - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/719d8e9c-0139-468a-9447-ff0be9156119.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/3686205e-ad81-422b-a731-db075217a9eb.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/a107633a-bcc6-4f56-8db3-77717515ec29.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/ddc79032-3c1b-4541-9c1a-aee493b86a09.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/11f93ac0-9f62-44e6-83ba-c12747178886.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/dc02bee9-c563-4a69-a9e5-c293de0709ec.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/0c635475-180e-4e67-ac93-3cd3c0e8d4f6.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/a94bf2ac-4655-43be-ab62-cbe66774ccd6.jpg - 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Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/65f0519e-50f5-4560-ac74-6011a32c8693.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/b67156ef-a8a5-443b-9749-8909a4a17681.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/cec63136-be20-4d40-8b77-850ecd540350.jpg - Card: https://mindtrays.com/uploads/media/c07f9ed3-3ccd-41a8-9ce4-c3d8f8575d77.jpg --- [View on MindTrays](https://mindtrays.com/decks/mindtrays-faces-expressions)