The Beauty of Mandalas

      I was first introduced to mandalas from a pen-pal who lives in Germany. She is confined to a wheelchair and has been for over ten years. I met her about a year after I became a widow and she has been a pure joy to my heart and life.

      We always mentioned books we had read, TV programs we had seen and our outings. We even created and shared  a "Dear God" journal together. (I will go into more detail about this in my next entry.)

      I was going through a real hard time and I expressed it in one of our e-mails. I was really worried about being able to pay, my late husband's medical bills and it was really making me stressed. We had thought all of them were completely paid and then six months after his death, I received a statement from a medical lab that I owed $60,000.00! I was stressed to the max! 

      She told me about the mandalas and how she painted them to relax, relieve stress and bring a sense of peace to her mind and spirit. She also sent me a few links, where I could download and print them for free. I was curious about them and started roaming around the internet, getting information, printing out a few of them and then wondering if they really brought on the feeling of peace within. 

      My daughter had some colored pencils, colored markers, gel pens and a few metallic ink pens.  I went out to my little cabin, turned on some relaxing music and began to paint. It took me three days to complete my first mandala and I felt peaceful while creating it. 

     I love this form of art for many reasons. I can have the same picture and it will always look different, because of the different color choices I use each time. I purchased a three-ring notebook binder and some plastic page protectors to add each one into as I complete them. It has turned out as a plain scrapbook of sorts. "Smile" I date each one and write what was on my mind at the time I was painting it. 

      Now, my grandson, Jaydaan, has his own little notebook, filled with his own mandalas. He loves doing them and this is our time together each week. Even though, the other children enjoy creating them too, they are not into doing them as much as Jaydaan. 

     So far, I like using the colored markers and the gel pens the most, but the children love using the colored pencils.