To Inspire, Transform & Heal

Linda Wiggen Kraft
Creativity for the Soul

100 Days for Mandalas – The Gifts of Our Soul -Session 5 – Week 8

Authenticity is a collection of choices

that we have to make every day.

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It’s about the choice to show up and be real.

The choice to be honest.

The choice to let our true selves be seen.

                                                                               Brené Brown

THEME FOR SESSION FIVE

– The  theme  of this three week part of 100 Days is “AUTHENTIC”.

AUTHENTIC –What choices do you make to be and feel real? What feels right and authentic from the depths of your true self?

POEMS & QUOTES – Please read these words in bold blue type by Brené Brown and let them be an inspiration.

MEDITATION – The guided meditation centers and quiets. Enter into the sacred space of the mandala circle to let the colors, shapes and whatever you put into the mandala guide you. The marks you make are perfect, whatever they are. They help reveal your authentic being.

MANDALA MEDITATION – AUTHENTIC

 

 

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What feels authentic to me?  Needing to play, know beauty, express and go deep within are what push and guide me through life. Needing to share those things with others goes along with this. Mandalas, nature and meditation are the vehicles that take me on that journey.

A mandala is a sacred circle that embraces creativity. It can be any image within that sacred circle.My journey is to help others  express within that safety and sacredness of a mandala. I feel part of my journey is to expand the power of mandalas into all sorts of expressions. In whatever expression: loose, tight, symmetrical, asymmetrical, simple, complex, black, white, colored, etc. etc. Often people think mandalas need to be symmetrical and intricate with lots of  traditional patterns. From the simple one-brush-stroke circle mandala called Enso, to the most in detailed sand mandalas created by Tibetan Monks, and everything in between. All are mandalas.

 

 

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Often life journeys are expressed as a spiral.  A spiral is a universal symbol found is ancient cultures around the world.  Many were carved into stone and still exist. The spiral represents journey, the coming back to something familiar but now you have grown. You are changed by the journey. A spiral has a beginning with a point deep in the center and an end with circles growing larger in between. From the center a journeying outward into the unknown takes place. Then a circling back to what is known and familiar, but never experienced the same. You are a changed soul.  The circles never touch, the cycles go on, showing growth and change as life travels on.

These mandalas  made with oil pastels and watercolors help me  express my journey with spontaneously drawn spirals. As I sit down with blank paper and art materials, what ever marks I make are not thought out before. The shapes and colors come out from deep inside as free expression.

 

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Example:  A few days ago I gave a presentation on meditation. It was to a group of people mostly my age. I was taken back to the days in my early 20s when I first became a meditation teacher. I gave similar presentations to large groups of people then. Here decades later, the same desire by others to know about something so profound (meditation) and my journey to share that information took place. Familiar but not the same.

 

WRITING PROMPT – For this 100 Days for Mandalas session, I am using an easy writing exercise. An easy poem to create is an acrostic poem.  Take a word, any word or words from the quote, and write the letters one on top of each other, down a page. This week I used the word “HONEST”  from the quote.

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H ome of who I am

O n the inside

N est of my soul

E very day and always

S ilent but loud

T ruth and trust

Please let these  mandalas, quote and meditation be an inspiration for your journey and expression of your true and authentic self.

 

SHARING MANDALAS

These mandalas are from Sofia in Portugal.  She was inspired by last fall’s “A Month for Mandalas”, and created 31 mandalas.  These are from that series.

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There are a few mandalas left from Sofia’s 31 days, I will share the last ones next week. Thank you Sofia for sharing so much creativity.

 

PLEASE SHARE YOUR MANDALA CREATIVITY
Please share the mandalas and art journaling you create by sending 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

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