Solar Plexus and its 10 Lotus Petals

The gold or yellow lotus traditionally used to represent the Solar Plexus Chakra has 10 petals, and each is a reminder of an aspect of the lower self to overcome before proceeding to work on purifying the Heart Chakra. These 10 petals represent: spiritual ignorance; thirst of power/lust; jealousy; treachery; shame; fear; disgust; delusion; foolishness; and sadness.

I don't believe "overcoming" these aspects means to completely eradicate them out of one's life and personality.  The complete absence of such behaviours is the polar opposite of the presence of all of these behaviours.  Polar opposites must learn to co-exist for balance to be reached.  

The complete absence of these very human feelings and behaviours exist to somehow enrich our experience in terms of helping grow in our life lessons or spiritual path.  If we strip ourselves of our "human-ness" are we really living life in this plane as it was meant to be?  We must however always remain aware of these aspects, and if we notice that they take a significant place in our life we must ask ourselves why, what is our role, and where is the lesson to be learned.  By displaying or by witnessing such behaviours, are we learning a life lesson, or are we teaching someone else how to respond to the behaviour instead of reacting?  

Draw a 10-petalled flower.  Identify each flower with one of the Solar Plexus aspects.  For each aspect, fill in the petal to the amount you believe the aspect is present in your life.  For instance, if I were very jealous of someone, or if I feel someone is very jealous of me or my belongings, I would colour in the "Jealousy" petal completely from the center to the tip.  This exercise will provide you with reflexion time and a quick visual reference as to where you need to work on your life lessons, and where you need more balance.  Write your reactions and insights in your journal.

Happy journaling!