imac contacts gone

(running OS 10.13.6)

I was having trouble with adding contacts to my imac and them not syncing with my iphone. so I went to system pref-icloud, ticked contacts off, then back on, to see if that would help. (contacts is ticked in iCloud on both my phone and iMac, but they don't always sync when I add a new contact).

now the only contact cards showing on my Mac are my own and apple canada. if I start a msg or email etc, the contacts come up, but they aren't showing in the application.

help?

TIA