The Carousel check-in tool

A check-in tool for multi-potentialites who want to do ALL THE PROJECTS at once.

• The core belief of Carousel is that we are most fulfilled and best contribute to the world when we live a life that truly lights us up.
• The Carousel model acknowledges that our relationship to different projects is constantly changing, and that something that was once our whole existence can move through us and no longer feel important.
• There is a lot of grief that comes up with letting projects go, and it can feel challenging to have to make a decision one way of the other to continue or quit — it’s not always that black and white.
• With the carousel model, we don’t need to make permanent decisions: we allow projects to come in and out of focus and come back round again when they’re ready.
• Simply put: we don’t really need to DO anything; just quietly observe as the projects change shape and feeling within our bodies.
• When we’re not working on something directly it can feel like it’s forgotten, but just like summer needs to contrast with winter, and we need to sleep every night, our projects also need to have breathing space.
• The important thing is to be present with whatever is alive RIGHT NOW, and know that everything that is meant for us will come back around eventually.

The different sections of the Carousel

IN FOCUS:
This is everything that is important to you RIGHT NOW. It lights you up, excites you, consumes you, needs your attention.

How you feel when you’re here:
Lit up, expansive, joyful, saying yes, present, high!, in flow, focused.

FINISHING:
This is everything that has previously been in focus but is starting to finish up or feel less important.

How it feels to be here:
You feel a drifting sensation, less presence/joy/excitement, more mechanical and ‘going through the motions’, or a healthy detachment, which allows you to bring it to a close. Less invested. Drop in energy.

LETTING GO:
Here we start facing up to something being or over, or no longer important. We make plans to pass it on, pause, or maybe take it off the carousel completely.

How you feel:
A little anxious, maybe indecisive, can be some sadness/grief around needing to let it go.

BACK OF CAROUSEL:
This is where we allow things to be out of focus and not need our attention for a while. Inactivity is key.

How you feel:
Relief, spacious, breathing out, peaceful. Knowing things are taken care of, in the background.

ON MY RADAR:
Here we dump all the idea of things we want to bring in or resurrect from the ‘back of the carousel’. We brainstorm and there is a sense of possibility.

How it feels:
Exciting, curious, wondering, but no sense of urgency yet. Floating. ‘’Queuing up the playlist.’’

BRINGING INTO FOCUS:
Here are the projects that are knocking loudly, or you know are coming up very soon. Here we start to make plans to bring them into focus as we know it’s time.

How it feels:
An anxious excitement, a sense of leaping afraid, knowing ‘it’s now’, looking for concrete actions and making plans.

How to use the Carousel check-in tool.

1. Make a note of all the projects, activities, interests that are currently in your life, including ones that you’d like to bring in. At the moment you don’t need to worry about what you’re doing with them, just have them all named.

2. An honest audit: Take each of the activities on your list and ask, ‘where is this truly on my Carousel right now?’

This can be difficult, because we may be faced with a reality that we don’t like. eg .We may want something to be ‘in focus’, but in reality, it’s starting to move towards the ‘back of the carousel’. For now, just allow it to be so you can take in the situation.

When you’ve done that, you can follow these prompts:
i). How do I feel when I look at my Carousel?

ii) Go through each section and notice in your body how it feels to have the
activities in each section — allow yourself to feel the sadness of projects that havemoved on, the acceptance of projects at the back and the excitement of projects on your radar… Feel it all.

iii) Ask, ‘is there anything I need to do?’

3. Then you can start to choose where we’d like things to be on the carousel. Think about the time frame you want to explore your Carousel with: maybe the next month, or next 3 months. Then decide if you want to actively move anything around the Carousel.

For example you could move something that was on ‘bringing into focus’, to the back of the Carousel. Or maybe there is something that was at the ‘back of the carousel’ that need to come to ‘in focus’ straight away.
Consider if there is anything else you need to do to make that happen.

I’d love to hear how you get on with using the Carousel tool. Feel free to leave a comment.

Also, if you haven’t already, you can join the Carousel newsletter.