The Compassionate Soul: January "Circles of Creativity"

The "Circles of Creativity" seminar continues to be an amazing experience. The participants are going deeper and deeper into the mandala process, and they seem to be finding it rich and rewarding. And I love being with this group of people every month, helping them on their journeys of discovery and self-expression. In fact, sometimes I think I get even more out of this experience than they do. And I love the luxury of time... the opportunity to slow down and take the time to develop the relationships with and within the group and with the mandala process.

The January session focused on "The Compassionate Soul." After our initial check-in, we took some time to practice a bit of technique, creating scale of light with both white and colored pencil.

After everyone felt comfortable with their blending, each participant picked someone else's name to create a gift for. The idea was to keep secret the recipient of the mandala as everyone worked. No one knew who was doing their mandala. This allowed everyone to practice being open to their own intuitive, compassionate nature as they created a mandala for someone they may not know very well (or at all). And it allowed everyone to practice trusting that everything is as it should be and that the mandala that was created for them was indeed the right one for them.


We began this exercise with the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Let me not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in the giving that we receive.
It is in the pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

This prayer was the basis of the meditation as each participant asked to receive the perfect symbol for the recipient of the mandala they were to create. After receiving the symbol and bringing it into their heart to fill with love and light, and blessing their materials, everyone began to draw their gifts.

When everyone had finished, on the count of three, everyone gave their gift to the person whose name they picked. It was all joy and smiles as everyone traded.

After a few minutes of sitting quietly exploring the gift mandala made for them, each participant had a chance to share about the mandala they received and to tell something about the mandala
they created.


Here, Ellen shows off the mandala she received as a gift from Audrey.






And this mandala of birds taking flight is the gift Ellen did for another participant, with the message:

Take off and fly!

As often happens, the recipient had watched Ellen create this mandala, and hoped it was for her.

It was a perfect demonstration of trusting the process. Ellen created the perfect mandala with no conversation with her recipient. She simply opened her heart, allowed her intuitive nature to flow and connected with compassion.


Elizabeth did this mandala for Lynda with this message:

"Endless growth is possible, even in small spaces."

This simple message is a reminder to all of us that there is always an opportunity to grow, to heal, to develop our capacities for life in any situation; hope is always available.


Elizabeth then shared with us some stories about her travels to Australia and New Zealand, and her explorations of forests and caves in those countries. What was most compelling about those travels? During those times, Elizabeth experienced that growth of life is eternal. Then she told us about a funeral she recently attended for a dear friend who made a difference in other people's lives. He was a man with a true generosity of spirit. She shared a poem that was read at this funeral. The poet was an eleven year old boy who died of cancer: his message was that through all the suffering and pain of life, we can still spread love to others.

I love listening to Elizabeth tell her stories. She has lived a full life, and I am honored when she shares some of it with us. She is a wise woman with much to teach us all.

I read two poems in closing: "Two Kinds of Intelligence" by Rumi; and "Buddha in Glory" by Rainer Maria Rilke. And then we closed the circle until next month.

I shall close this update now with "Buddha in Glory."

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
and beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.