Mandala - Part 3

Regular readers know that I am working on a couple of projects at the same time.  I am switching back and forth on blogging about the projects.  If you are following the Walking Stick Z project, I will be blogging about that project on Sunday.  Today I am blogging about the the Mandala project.  I am working on the second lesson in the book: Mandala Luminous Symbols for Healing by Judith Cornell, PH.D. 

I had a hard time getting this lesson off the ground.  The lesson said to draw a Mandala by tracing around your hands using a white pencil on a black background.  After the hands were drawn, you had to decide where and how to illuminate the Mandala.  I "humphed" and I grumped, complained, whined, and procrastinated.  I just felt the project was "childish".   After all, children trace around their hands all the time. 

Finally I ran out of excuses and decided to get on with the project.  I finally rationalized my way into getting the lesson started.  I said to myself that if I had paid for a class and that was the assigned exercise for the group that I would go ahead and do it rather than refusing to get started.  Well, since I had purchased the book in order to learn something about Mandala,  I finally decided that it was time to get with the program and get on with the exercise whether I liked it or not.  So I did get started.  I read the chapter, then put on the CD and listened to the guided meditation and started to draw.  The exercise said that if you did not have a large sheet of black paper to make a Mandala just use a partial sheet and draw.  It also suggested that you draw in at least three hands.  I did not go that far, because I was still not totally on board with the exercise and because I needed to purchase some large black sheets of paper.  And then a wonderful thing happened.

Once I traced my hands and started to color in the dark areas my attitude changed.  Somewhere along the line I started to have fun.  The circular scribbles that I was using to color in areas became spiral galaxies.  Where I perceived that lines of energy intersected I added stars.  About half way through the exercise I realized that I was really enjoying myself just playing around.  This was not a serious piece of art.  The idea was just to get your Inner Child to come out and play.  And my Inner Child was saying, "Hello old friend.  Where have you been?  I haven't seen you for a while."  So much of the time I am trying so hard to get it "right".  Or I am working hard to meet a deadline in order to have something to post on the blog. 
I feel pressed for time rather than taking time to enjoy the process.  It was a total joy just to sit there and play. 

Great art?  No.  But it was great fun.  So in a way, it was very healing, which is the idea behind the book.  The exercise that I did not want to do turned out to be truly beneficial.  It just goes to show that sometimes what is resisted the hardest is what is needed the most.