Leading circles can be hard. It makes you hyper-aware of your ego, since it’s usually all riding on you. Doubts race through my mind: Am I doing this right? Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much?’ Will I attract enough women to attend? I believe this is the hardest part of leading circles and why there aren’t more women doing them. As with public speaking -- one of our biggest fears, -- we are afraid what people will think of us!
A certain amount of fear, or healthy stress, is a good thing. It motivates you to always try better. The challenge is to not obsess about our ego and let it block us from moving forward. Sisters, it’s time to get out of our comfort zones. We need each other to step up and have more women lead circles. Coming together in circle is so healing and empowering. Jean Shinoda Bolen, a writer, analyst, and teacher who has long been a leader in the women's empowerment movement, believes there will be a planetary shift in psycho-spiritual consciousness when we have a million circles happening around the globe. She shares this view in her book, The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World.
One thing that can help us with the ego dilemma is remembering to connect to our bigger, or higher selves, and with the intention behind leading circles. We know we are coming into this experience with the intention of healing and empowering women. We understand it’s for the greater good. This is the most important thing. The rest is a lot more inconsequential.
Another way to look at it is through the lens of the chakra system. Ego operates out of the third chakra. When we refocus our intentions of getting a group of women together to deeply connect and grow, it brings us back up into our fourth or heart chakra. This is where we mainly want to operate from. Love resides in the heart chakra. Coming from love is the best way to help heal ourselves and the planet.
If you are interested in leading circles, I can help. I can also direct you to other resources that can assist you. In the permanent brick-and-mortar Red Tent, we’re going to need more women leading circles! May we all be strong enough and aware enough to recognize interference by the ego and refocus our energy into our heart chakras.
Image credit goes to Sara Maude. Read more about the ego and how to best deal with it in her blog post, Let Go of The Ego to Find Happiness.