This past weekend I was a speaker at an event in Brussels. We’d had a busy day and a beautiful lady called Tanya Arler, Spiritual Teacher and Inspirational Speaker, asked if we’d like to join her in the evening to do a mandala. She said she’d share a little message around what it means. If you don’t know what a mandala is, it’s basically a circular drawing. In spiritual circles (excuse the pun) it can be a way to get a message about what your soul wants. Now don’t shoot me down in flames if that’s not a great description, it’s just how I like to describe it!
I am really creative, so couldn’t wait. We all sat around a table and were asked to set an intention of one question that we’d like answered.
One Question I Wanted Answered
Mine was “What do I need to do/know to make my business explode so that I can serve thousands of people and help them to be fabulous in their businesses?”
Once we’d set our intention, we were given the task of drawing a circle by tracing around a plate, and then colour it in.
Here’s the finished mandala, what I’m sharing will make more sense when you can see it!
So I did my bit of doodling in the middle. I started off doing a bit of Zentangle*, which is a structured type of pattern, then realised that was going to take forever so I drew some wiggly lines that I then filled in with bits of colour. I added a couple of random stripey shapes and lots of dots. I finally added some yellow ‘flames’ if you like, around the inside of the circle, leaning at an angle around the edge of the circle into the centre. (See the Zentangle image I drew below so you know what I mean when I say Zentangle)
Structure & Free-Flow
The lovely Tanya came around and gave some feedback. She checked my question and said that I had a bit of structure (that Zentangle bit at the beginning) I’d realised that was a bit too much like hard work and I then went into more free-flowing. If you know me, that’s EXACTLY what I’m like. I’m a Virgo, I like structure, but I want fun so I pull myself out of the super structure to bring more flow. So far, so good. Nothing to fear so far, huh?
Staying Inside My Comfort Zone
We talked about this explosion I wanted in my business, and how it was interesting that I hadn’t gone outside of the circle. I’d also contained my yellow (my explosion if you like) on the inside! What did this mean? Well, it meant that I was super excited about my business, and was exploding but not sharing enough in the outside world. Oh, okay, if you say so. I thought I was, but maybe not then. The dots meant I was in rhythm with life, which I kinda think I am.
So, I had to go back to the picture and add in yet more colour/detail which I did. I sat back and looked at my picture. Good, that was fun, I thought.
And ENORMOUS fear kicked in!
So my next task was to extend the yellow from the spiral in the centre all the way out to the edges of my rays and beyond. Easy, right?
No, not freakin’ easy at all. I literally could not push my yellow pencil past the boundary of the circle to go into my first ray. I felt SO much fear, it was incredible. How can it feel so scary to move a pencil past a pencil line on a piece of paper? This was getting really weird now. I kept taking deep breaths and telling myself, “It’s okay, I can do this, I’ve got this” and then the fear would start to dissipate slightly before going onto the next ray and the next.
WOW! I felt panic and fear in my chest, I could feel myself welling up as I worked my way around the rays. One of the other speakers sitting opposite me, who’s intuitive, said she could feel the fear that was coming up for me.
Now I could understand it if I was doing something really scary, but let’s get it in perspective, this was a yellow pencil and a piece of paper! SO bizarre! What I learned was that the circle was my comfort zone so while I thought I was pushing through my comfort zones, it wasn’t to this degree. It wasn’t to the degree that I need to push through if I want to explode my business and help thousands of people.
“So do you really want to explode your business, even though it’s going to feel this scary?”
Tanya then asked me, “So do you really want to explode your business, even though it’s going to feel this scary?” Yes, I said, I want to help thousands of people. Okay, so I kept going.
Eventually, I got all the way around the circle, you’ll be pleased to know, and I finished my rays. (All with Tanya repeatedly asking me if I really wanted to explode my business) Even writing this now, I can feel the fear rising again about what action I need to take to really get my business visible so I can help thousands. Wow!
All good, I made it and felt better. She then said the spiral didn’t feel like it was big enough, she felt it needed to extend all the way out to the edge of the paper. This bit was about expansion, about constantly uplevelling and growing in order to be of service, not going round in circles but each time going further and further out into and beyond my comfort zone I guess. I could cope with that, it felt progressive which was good.
There will be chaos in your business – it’s okay
Next up, I needed to add colour, I wanted green which is apparently a spiritual colour so that felt good. I added green around the edges of my rays and sat back and looked at it. Tanya and another lady asked what I thought of it. I said I didn’t like it, it annoyed me. Tanya asked why it annoyed me. I replied that it wasn’t pretty, it felt chaotic and messy. I like my pictures to flow and have structure (funny that, based on what I shared earlier!) She said that if I want to explode my business, then I need to accept that there will be times when it’s messy and chaotic and I have to think about how I can bring it back into something more ordered. I might not like how it looks, but that’s okay.
Lastly, I needed to add in something else, so I added some blue dots all the way around the edge, that bit felt exciting somehow and I felt my picture was done. Messy, and ugly, but done!
So what has all of this got to do with you?
Stop playing small – it’s time to show up like you mean it!
Well, I learned that it doesn’t serve people by you playing small, that while you might be pushing through your comfort zones there’s a limit and that perceived limit may be stopping you from helping thousands of people.
I learned that business might get messy, and let’s be honest, that’s the reality of being in business, it can feel chaotic at times. I also learned that it’s okay if you need to take a step back, it’s not all about pushing forward all the time. My biggest lesson was that while I thought I was being brave, I actually haven’t even touched the surface of how brave I need to be to help more people. Are you ready to be that brave? That’s really scary for me to be honest. I’m an introvert. I’m okay with stepping up but then I need a bit of a lie-down. Deep breathing might become the new go-to tool for getting through it.
I remember when I was single after going through my divorce, people would try and match-make me with guys that weren’t quite right and I said then, as I say now in my business, “I won’t settle, I know what I want and I’m prepared to wait for that and do what it takes to get the perfect person for me.” I am now going to take that into my business too, no settling, it’s time for us to step up even more as leaders and to grow our tribes so that we can have an even bigger impact.
I know, the more people I can help, the more I can work on my homeless project I want to do. It’s time to make our messages bigger than our fears! Join me in becoming Fearless Visibility Divas!
If you want to connect with the lovely Tanya, which you totally should because she really is AMAZING, you can sign up to her blog, and connect with her on her website and/or Facebook page. I’m meeting up with her again in July and can’t wait for instalment 2!
PS. If you like the idea of trying out Zentangles for yourself, then you’ll love Pinterest. It’s fabulous for both personal and business use. In fact, I’m running a 3-day live experience on attracting beautiful dreamie clients into your business next week, starting Tuesday 6 April. Come and join me – Pinterest Rocks Live. It’s going to be FAB! What’s amazing about Pinterest is it’s a free and fun platform to work on – what’s not to like?!
