Today’s Mandala Message: Check Your Assumptions
This week I’m working through Principle #52 “When In Doubt, Check It Out”. I set my intention today to ponder the jade of making assumptions without checking them out. Canfield states: “It’s usually when we assume the worst that we don’t want to check it out. We’re simply afraid of what the answer might be. … The moment you begin to check it out, two things happen. First, you find out the real facts. … Second, you have the option to do something about it.”
In the early days of creating mandalas, I actively participated in art shows and art guilds. One year I entered a color pencil mandala to our color pencil society’s show. While we didn’t have to be juried into the show, we had a Juror (a color pencil architectural artist) award prizes for different categories. At the show’s reception, we had the option to ask the Juror to critique our art. I didn’t win any awards (I really wasn’t expecting to) so I took advantage of that option. When he looked at my art his first response was that he didn’t get it; the light and shadows were not right…he couldn’t tell where the light was coming from. I told him that just as I repeat patterns around the circle, I also repeat the light and shadow patterns around the circle, as if the mandala was spinning. He still didn’t understand it.
On another occasion I was rejected from a big art show and we had the opportunity to have the Juror present to ask for feedback when we picked up our art. Here too I took advantage of the Juror’s critique. Expecting the worst, she instead said my art was fine, that she would have put it in the show however because no one else had submitted art similar to mine she had trouble seeing how she could fit it in esthetically. She further said, I had put together four mandalas of the size I created and into one large square frame as a single piece, that would have worked…it could have stood out on its own.
The lesson for me in both of these cases was that had I not asked for critiques (had I not ‘checked it out’), I would have assumed the worst: that I either wasn’t a good enough artist or my art wasn’t good enough. And had I held onto either of these assumptions, I might have eventually stopped making art or maybe I would have tried to make art that other people would like versus making art that I like to make, from my heart and soul.
I still get rejected (and on occasion accepted) for shows. But now I know that a lot depends on the eye of the Juror and how best they can put together a show where it all balances out. It could very well be that my art is not good enough for a show, but chances are that unless it’s specifically a mandala art show or a “new age” art show, my art will probably have trouble fitting in. And I’m okay with that.
A good mindfulness practice would be to consider checking it out the next time you make an assumption…especially a negative one.
So how about you? Would you rather assume the worst rather than checking it out? What makes you not want to check out your assumptions? Have you had it happen where you did assume the worst only to find out later that your assumption was way off the mark?
“Even if we hear something
— Don Miguel Ruiz
and we don’t understand
we make assumptions
about what it means
and then believe
the assumptions.
We make all sorts of assumptions
because we don’t have the courage
to ask questions.”
Author
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.
Mandala of the Day 