100 Days for Mandalas -session three – RECEIVE – sharing

October 16th, 2013

The mandala inspiration word for the next two weeks is RECEIVE.  The most beautiful writing I recently found that illustrates the state of receiving is by writer Mark Nepo, from his book Seven Thousand Ways to Listen

Here are his words: “…only by receiving light can flowers grow into their beauty and pollinate the earth. Only by absorbing rain can the earth grow to feeds us.  Only by inhaling air can our bodies walk us to each other. Only by accepting each other’s pain and vulnerability can human strength grow between us.  In these ways, receiving involved absorbing, inhaling, and accepting life that flows through us, between us and around us.”

MANDALA PROMPT – May these words be an inspiration to receive the blessings of life, and be an inspiration to the creativity that flows into your mandala and art journaling.

MANDALA MEDITATION – Mandala Meditation RECEIVE

Here are three of my mandalas inspired by “receive.”

I am using the portfolio pages from my long ago created art journal pages.  In these first two mandalas, I  added printed versions of the first mandalas I ever created.

SHARING  – The mandalas below were created by Nancy Kibens.  The  first one was inspired by the word AWAKE.

The following mandalas are part of Nancy’s journey through her healing from the passing  of her son.  Here is a previous blog post that shares her story.

She shares this mandala and her words to explain her process.

Here is the current mandala  in my grieving series.  I’m back-and-forth between moving forward, and hanging on to grief. The wavy line down the center shows that ambivalence. And the arrows show how suddenly I can move from one to the other. You can see the shadow on the left side, and none of it is as dark as the previous mandalas.

LEFT – On the Shadow side the first image is of the pockets of Emptiness I feel in spots in my life. The second panel is the underlying and prevailing grief which will always be there. The third panel are the questions that are still unanswered, they will probably shrink and eventually go away because I know there are no answers to them. The fourth panel speaks for itself, and the fifth panel are the three root chakras,  that hold you together in a crisis. And the last panel are the tears.

RIGHT- Coming to the bright side, First is the underlying grief which will be there no matter how wonderful life eventually gets. Music has come back into my life as a healing element. Both singing and listening have cracked open some happiness.

The next panel looks like a tree and it could be interpreted that way, but I intended it as a pathway, that there are new roads opening for me. The next panel shows a lot of dirt, earth because I’m feeling more grounded, and the sun is beginning to shine. The last panel are the four spiritual chakras That lead to a calmer consciousness.

Thanks for sharing Nancy

PLEASE SHARE YOUR MANDALA CREATIVITY –
Please share the mandalas and art journaling you create by sending me an email with attachments of your art. Please use a high resolution – which can be a smart phone camera – with enough surroundings in the photo.  I can easily crop the image.  Please send to linda (at) creativityforthesoul.com.  Please use the @ sign and no spaces.

ENJOY – CREATE – RECEIVE