What do you discover when you are still and use your creativity? This weekend was filled with discoveries on many levels around friendships, vulnerability, healing, and upsets. The art brings me back to listening to the part of me that desires to be expressed and in the process I am learning to sit with the fullness of my emotions-sometimes, messy, sometimes in spurts of fits, sometimes without grace, sometimes cutting and angry, sometimes sad and broken- all with an honesty, compassion, and willingness to hear what needs to be expressed.
Posts Tagged ‘mandala’
Mandala Mondays
January 25th, 2010Mandala Mondays
January 18th, 2010
Often we don’t take the time to acknowledge the good in our lives and rush forward into the next thing. What gets our attention are those things that are not working well, or things that could be better, or things that are not how we would like them to be. There also a tendency to focus on the negative feelings we are experiencing, rather than relishing the lightness and joy in our lives. This weekend was a reminder of the joys in my life, of relationships that make my heart open wider, and fun activities that just feel so good and joyful! So I savor a delight filled weekend and set an intention to have a week filled with moments where I focus on the joy in my life and celebrate it!
Mandala Mondays
January 11th, 2010
As my mind becomes still and I respect my need to silently listen to my heart the mandala images become more clear and crisp. After 42 days of making daily mandalas (with a few days missed) I feel a need to center with the artwork. I know when I am not creating I feel a bit off, like my energies are flying around and I cannot fully focus. Yes, there are days when I do the art and I still feel distracted and pulled after making art, but I feel centered in the process.
Today’s Mandala reminds me of what I’ve been hiding from and how I have made excuses out of fear. I allow myself to acknowledge and accept what I am discovering and choose to accept with love the deeper layers I’m discovering.
Mandala Mondays
January 4th, 2010
Monday’s Mandala making reminds me of what I choose in my life and how we consciously choose what we create in our lives. My figure in the center is a flowing tree that is holding the space. As I created the strong lines and leaves I could feel the flow of emotions of holding the emotional space for others and as I sat with those feelings, a deeper realization emerged. It was the holding of the space for the flow of my emotions, a reminder of how easily it is to be in other people’s pain and lose sight of my needs. So I allow the flow of feelings to move through my image, knowing it is all part of nature, and my being. I come back to the reminder that I consciously choose to honor my needs and be in self-love.
Mandala Mondays- Giving Gratitude
December 28th, 2009
This Mandala Monday is focused on gratitude, often forgotten when life becomes difficult. There are so many mixed emotions the first holiday after you lose a loved one. Although it has been a few months since we said good-bye to my mother-in-law, the rush of the holidays kept our family busy. The loss and sadness appears and disappears, but came strongly during the holiday. There is nothing that can be said or done to alleviate the pain and loss. So we embrace it, with all the other feelings that come up this time of year. We welcome family and friends into our home and connect over the phone and skype those who are far. We nap, eat, cry, laugh, go for bike rides, burn a fire, walk the beach, listen to music, and feel a string of sadness that is woven throughout. Yet, in these moments there is such gratitude. Gratitude for being alive, feeling the sun on my face, the smell of salty air, the fur of my dog, the hug of my mother, the joy of snuggling in bed on a cold night, the heat from the fire, a good book, and a cup of tea. All these moments, all these feelings, I give gratitude and know the blessings of being able to feel and be here and bear witness to my life.
Sarasota Season of Sculpture on the Bay
Mandala Mondays
December 21st, 2009
Saturday’s Mandala holds sacred the feelings of change and loss and the sheer beauty of moment. I walked on the beach Saturday with my husband. The wind had been blowing all day and there will a wild brilliance of crashing waves that we don’t often see in the gulf. The waves held a raw beauty that comes on a cool winter day at the beach. We picked shells for my mother’s holiday gift and let the feeling of sadness move through us. This was a favorite spot that my mother-in-law treasured when she came to FL. We knew she was walking with us as we combed the beach; this will be the first holiday without her and she’ll be in our hearts as we celebrate, yet there is a sadness that we honor as we move through the holidays.
Today’s Mandala holds the image of coming back to home, back to the heart. Since my husband and I are native northerners, this time of year there is a longing to be up north with family and friends, decking out our house in the Finger Lakes. The trees and hills are the north. Since we had traveled monthly over the last 6 months we decided to stay local and be with my family in the south. There is a longing to be playing in all that snow up north and having things be the same a they had years prior. Yet there is the the water, representing the south, and the continuity that life goes on. There is a sadness in all the changes, and a longing to “return home”. Yet, there is clarity that home is love- love of self, love of others, and love of spirit, and we are always returning home.
Mandalas and Healing, Day 18
December 18th, 2009
It is interesting to see the unfolding of your feelings and thoughts over weeks through the art making process. On day 17 I make this image. There’s lots happening right now in my business, with the holidays, and in my personal life. I find that the 10-15 minutes I take each time I do a mandala centers me for the day. I did not make one a few days ago and felt really off- overwhelmed and stressed out. I find that even though I am really busy, and it could be easy to not make art each day, that the connection with myself and the art grounds me for what happens during that day. This image is about entering into a new period of growth and development (personal and business). There is excitement and the unknown. However, the seeds of growth are being planted and I honor where I’m at in the process.
Today’s Mandala
is very clear. Last night I affirmed a big decision I am making in my life and the feeling of clarity and power of my choice feels so vibrant. The image celebrates the progression of the flame transmuting into growth and budding into new aspects of myself. I can feel the shift within me as I consciously make choices in a new direction. It feels powerful and affirming.
Mandala a Day Keeps the Art Therapist Away?
December 3rd, 2009I’ve been inspired by my students in the Professional Creative Solutions Certification Program and a recent workshop on Mandalas at The Art Therapy Conference in Dallas. So I was thinking about what it would be like to create a Mandala a day as a way to express what I am feeling and use as a centering tool. I’ve heard others talk of this process as a journey into self healing and discovery and would like to explore the process. I’ll be posting Mandalas and offering some thoughts on my experience.
If you would like to join me please feel free to offer your insights and links to you images. If a daily dose of Mandala making seems overwhelming I ask you to join me for Mandala Mondays- as a way to center yourself for the week ahead.
In case you are wondering what a Mandala is, Wikipedia describes it as “Mandala Sanskrit maṇḍala “essence” + “having” or “containing”, also translates as “circle-circumference” or “completion”, is a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance…”
Or in simple language, a circle image you create.
My image above has the words on the bottom reflect the feeling of the image, ” I let go of what does not serve me to create a space for healing”.
