Stop Shoulding
This week we focus on “Sweet Surrender”. Today’s MotD encourages us to stopping shoulding ourselves as one way to embrace sweet surrender. When we “should” ourselves, we act from a place of otherness: doing what’s expected of us by others or guilting ourselves into it doing what others want us to or basically we coming from any other place BUT our True, Authentic Self. Acting from “should” is one of the key symptoms of co-dependency.
It was my second of four therapists who introduced me to the phrase (command): stop shoulding yourself. Apparently, I tended to overuse it—I should do this…I should do that—mostly in a people-pleasing capacity. Aside from being clever, it’s one of the more powerful phrases that have truly made a difference in my life. Prior to this “discovery”, I had almost completely lost a total sense of myself…I was all about what others want.
We’re encouraged to notice our use of “should”. In what context our we using it? How is using it affecting our decisions? How is it blocking our Truth? Our challenge becomes eliminating (surrendering it) to the ethers…never to control our actions again.
How about you ? Do you “should” a lot ? Are you always feeling guilted into doing something based on what others want ? Are you ready to surrender your “shoulds” ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 