Most of us are familiar with the metaphor of the onion – we use it in many situations when we're curious and want to dig deeper to discover more. In a recent coaching session with my client, we chatted about their hopes and expectations for our time together. We played around with the idea of choosing a metaphor that we could doodle to symbolize their wishes and the start of a new chapter in their life. As a nature lover, they felt a deep connection to the onion metaphor. Feeling stuck for quite some time, they felt ready to start peeling back the layers, so it seemed like a good choice.
As we sat and doodled the onion together, the playful act of drawing allowed new insights to flow into the conversation. The tough outer layer, while a comfortable place to be, was also quite protective, keeping out much of the good stuff. The fine, delicate layer underneath, although fragile, had a lot of beautiful and important things to say. With each layer, there was hope for new discoveries. Over time, as we grow and more and more layers appear, sometimes we don’t even know how the layers got there or if they’re even helpful.
And if we peel back all the layers, what’s left? Is this necessary or could we explore the layers while keeping the onion whole and select which ones we can say goodbye to? And of course, with onions, there might be some tears and maybe a bit of irritation – which triggered a realisation of the need to be committed and open, and that shedding layers might make for a bumpy road but would be worth it in the end.
Using the Doodle Diary during my personal coaching sessions on The Serious Sofa is a creative and playful way to explore challenges and situations more deeply.Â
Doodling encourages free thinking and can help people discover new ideas and perspectives to the challenges they may be facing.Â
Doodling encourages creativity and inspires people to explore a wider range of possibilities and find connections and patterns they might otherwise miss.Â
Doodling helps people to express thoughts and emotions that may be difficult to express with words.
Images have a bigger impact than just words alone and can spark new memoriesÂ
And between session the Doodle Diary is a powerful tool to prompt deeper self-reflection and help to process of the thoughts and patterns that arise on The Serious Sofa.
Who would have thought that a doodle of an onion had such a lot to say? What would your metaphor for a new chapter in your life be? Join me on The Serious Sofa to discover the story it has to tell and the steps you need to take towards change.
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