Leonardo Da Vinci drawings of the human heart
I was away from this blog for a few weeks, too much to do. Two art shows (one I was in charge of and it poured rain all day), my garden on a garden tour, a mandala art workshop, garden designs and installs, and other commitments all added up to three weeks and weekends of extreme busyness. The end of all this was a visit from an out of town friend. After our visit I went home to rest.
The rest I envisioned wasn’t what happened, instead it turned into a trip to the Emergency Room and a day in the hospital. As I went to rest, I noticed my heart beating too fast. No other symptoms, just too fast. An hour later I was in the trauma room of the hospital having my heart shocked to get it to beat normally. A day later I was home and doing fine, sort of.
My body was fine, but I needed to process the whole experience, and heal from that. A week of rest and no appointments, except Doctor visits, helped. Working lightly in a garden I designed helped a lot. Meditating, praying and yoga helped. But the deep healing was, and is being, helped by art. Both mandala art and beautiful art.
First Making Mandalas and Journaling
I needed to be honest with my thoughts, feelings and processing of all that happened. Making a mandala and journaling helped. Some of the journaling was on plain journal paper, some as words on my mandalas. I found the Egyptian ieb symbol, a symbol for the heart comforting. It is vessel shape with two handles on the side. It holds something inside. To the ancient Egyptians the heart was the center and holder of the mind and soul.
Why was my heart racing so fast? Too much to do, too much caffeine, too much done to help others with their dreams but not taking care of mine? What was, or wasn’t, being held in my heart? The line from the Langston Hughes poem came to mind:
What happens to a dream deferred?
I needed to revisit my dreams, know that they were still in my heart, honor them and not defer them. My mandalas with the ieb in the center helped. I could feel my dreams in those vessels.
Another mandala I found that I had created years ago with an image of a mother and infant and their radiant hearts helped.
Healing Hands
Bodhisattva Hands Playing Music - Japanese Twelfth Century
For some reason I needed to find art that showed gentle beautiful healing hands. I felt this art would heal me. I visited the St. Louis Art Museum to slowly view these kinds of hands.
Annunciation Painting by Paulo De Matteis 1712
I found them in paintings and sculptures.
Taoist Deity Hands - Chinese Sixteenth Century
They comforted me with their grace and helped intensify the gratitude I feel for the healing hands of humans and the divine that saved my life only a few short days ago.
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6 Responses to Matters of the Heart, Art & Mandala Healing
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Beautiful, Linda!
Thank you so much for expressing, in such a rich and vivid way, feelings and issues that are so close to my own heart.
I recognized you as part of this soul group of amazing women living at this time, who offer a bounty of beauty and healing, of healing through beauty coupled with depth and spiritual insight.
But as much as we are aware of the need for balance and space for ourselves, so many of us are have overcommitted lives, with so many responsibilities.
I just hope we can share, support and help one another, just like you have through this blog post, so we can reach this daily lifestyle where our hearts really hold space for us to breathe deeply, every day, in a gentle tending of our own selves and most cherished dreams.
Warm blessings and hugs, with gratitude,
Ruth
Dear Ruth,
Yes I think our hearts beat together with a love of beauty, healing and spiritual growth. And we both want to do it all, sometimes losing ourselves in trying. Thank you so much for your support, guidance and sharing.
Blessings – LINDA
Dear Linda I hope you are getting stronger with each day. I hope to be able to attend the Sunday Mandala get togethers coming up soon. I need guidance and direction for my Mandalas. My husband was just diagnosed with cancer and I can’t seem to keep my .thoughts in focus. The Mandalas you created while you were sick are beautiful and very touching. Thank you for sharing them. May your healing come quickly. Linda Massie
Oh Linda,
I’m sending you and your husband a big embrace. Mandalas have been so healing for me and I know they will help with guidance and direction for you. I am doing well. Thanks
LINDA
Dearest Linda,
Hands…… they encourage our growth in a mother’s womb as she strokes her belly in anticipation………..we are birthed into hands that help us take our first breaths…….. we are placed into the hands of our mother…… we are guided by hands that point the ways we should grow……. we are lifted up by hands that comfort our sorrows and dry our tears…….we are caressed by hands that that woo our hearts to love….. we are healed by hands offered willingly as vessels to deliver Creator’s loving power…… we must remember that our hands are meant for ourselves as well as others…. we must remember to encourage, anticipate, breathe, mother, guide, lift, comfort, caress, woo and heal ourselves. You bring soooo much to all of us, and we are here for you.
Tina,
Thank you for your comforting words.
Linda