16-05: Foods in the Raw

I would REALLY LOVE and appreciate seeing your colorings, and reading about your experiences…so please post in the comments below. Thanks 🙂

Foods in the Raw

Download this week’s Mandala of the Week

For this week’s theme we play with the phrase “food for thought”…meaning, in this case, to add some new ideas to our usual thought process…especially when it comes to bringing our hopes and desires into reality.

Inspired by yesterday’s Mandala of the Day: Orange Mandala, I created this outline of a sliced orange with 10 sections to represent 10 areas of our lives where we struggle with manifesting a dream or goal. If we look more closely and honestly at our struggles, what’s going on often times looks an awful lot like self-sabotage.

This mandala asks us to see our desires in a new light. Instead of “I’ll believe it when I see it”, change it to “I’ll see it when I believe it” with a sprinkling of

I allow myself to dream it
I allow myself to go for it
I allow myself to achieve it

This Week…

Determine 10 sections of your life that you want to experience differently.

If you have more than 10, you can either print this out twice or split up some of the 10 sections in the mandala. If you have less than 10, see if you can split a section into more than one. For instance if your dream is to have a healthier body, you can split that into two sections: healthy relationship with food and physically fit body.

Once you have your sections, one by one:

focus on your ideal/dream/goal for that section. what does it look like in your mind? what does it feel? what words would you apply to it?
feel yourself experiencing that ideal/dream/goal. put yourself into the experience…in other words rather than seeing yourself like in a movie, experience everything in your dream as if you’re actually there.
now express that experience in any way you like into that section of the mandala: draw it, color it, collage it, write it, scribble it, doodle it, add symbols…or dance it, write a song, sing it. If you had to give it a color, what color(s) would it be? if it helps to name it, feel free to do so.
now that you’ve expressed this ideal/dream/goal and brought it into form…at least on paper, you’re on your way to making it happen. You’ve created the “I’ll see it when I believe it”.
next, state this mantra (or any variation that works best for you): I allow myself to make this happen…and so it is.
repeat steps 1-5 for the remaining sections.

Put your completed mandala someplace where you can easily see it. When you catch yourself self-sabotaging any of these ideals/dreams/goals, visit that section of the mandala as a reminder of its vision for you. Ask yourself what needs to change to make this happen? Then state the mantra (or variation): I allow myself to change, I allow myself to make this happen…and so it is.

OPTIONAL:

I included an arrow with the mandala which you can cut out to attach to the mandala to spin to different sections. An easy way to do it would be to use a push pin to pin the arrow onto the mandala and then into a wall or bulletin board.

You can then use it as a meditation tool: what insights to I need at this time regarding this section. You can use it as a “to do” tool: which section do I focus on today? what one thing can I do today to make this happen?

A WORD (or two) ABOUT MONEY:

Resist the temptation to make one of your sections be about wanting or having more money. Focus instead on what you would do with the money if you had more money (travel, study, create, start a new business or organization).

Try this great exercise before determining your sections:

write at the top of a page: If I had more money I would…
then proceed to write them all down
now create your sections from items on this list

A more appropriate section regarding money might be about how you handle or manage your money, or your relationship with money. For example, your dream might be to be totally comfortable with every aspect of money: spending, receiving, saving, giving, etc.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT

Be open to how our ideal/dream/goal evolves…allow it to manifest as how you see it or as something better, in its own perfect time and for the highest good of all.

16-05: Foods in the Raw