23-124 The Rule of Five #5

Today’s Mandala Message: Be Willing to Try New Things

This week I’m working through Principles #23 and #24 from Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles” entitled “Practice the Rule of Five” and “Exceed Expectations”, respectively. I set my intention today to ponder the idea of giving something extra by being vulnerable, trying new things. Today’s MotD is my take on Canfield’s principles about exceed expectations.

I do know that when I do something that I know works and can do it with ease, it’s easy to get comfortable at that level, to want to stay there continuing to do the same thing. So it’s good once in a while to try new things, exceed established boundaries, experiment, etc.

With today’s MotD I dared to be messy, using a medium (faber-castell gelatos) that makes it difficult to stay in the lines. Usually, you would color with them and then add a wet brush to turn it into more of a watercolor painting. Instead, I used q-tips and sponges to blend them in their dry, crayon-like state. While my Virgo rising energy would prefer my colorings to be neat and tidy (totally in the lines), today was a good exercise in trying new things as well as being willing to color outside the lines, and to share the results with you.

If you happen to be on Instagram @themandalalady … go to this post…I include a couple of time-lapsed videos showing my progress while coloring this mandala.

So how about you? How do you feel about trying new things? Or trying new ways to do what you do? Do you prefer to stick with what works and what you know how to do?

Part of the elasticity
that you need,
in order to continue
to try to create,
is the foregone conclusion
that not all of it
is going to be
fabulously successful.
But it’s all going to be part
of a long lifetime body
of experimentation.

— Elizabeth Gilbert

Blessings,

Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas

An Invitation

I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.