Dec 2011

Download the December 2011 Mandala of the month

We often hear the phrase just “let it go.” And yet we hear this without being offered any ways to do so. How do we let go when we are still aware of that which we are to let go. Sure it’s easy to say, following through becomes the challenge.

So along with coloring this month’s mandala of the month, we have a way to work on letting go…if we so desire.

The “letting go” of which we speak of here is the letting go of old patterns, beliefs and/or limitations that have long stopped serving us in any positive way. Some of my old patterns that I want to release are…procrastinating, being messy/disorganized, being 15 minutes ahead of where I am actually present, and judgement (both of others and of myself).

Here’s how it works.

1. Come up with 5-10 positive attributes you would like to be (calm, confident, responsible, orderly, etc.)
2. Pick the top 5 and write one in each of the 5 smaller circles in the mandala. In my example I wrote “calm” in one of the smaller circles.
3. 

   Sample

   In the 5 lower boxes of the stack of boxes around the mandala, write down a word or phrase describing what stops you from experiencing that positive attribute. You can put in the box to the left or right of where you wrote the positive attribute. In my example I wrote “worry”.

4. Now in the smaller box, draw in a symbol to represent what you can do to transform the limitation into a positive. Make the symbol something that will help you remember the transformative action you can take. In my example, I know that taking some deep breathes helps me to calm down so I drew something that looks to me like a big inhale and then exhale.
5. When you’ve done this all the way around, you can then color the mandala. All the while being aware of your limitations being transformed into your positive attributes.

The center of this mandala represents your well-being, the essence of who you are. You can think of the transformations being channeled into the mandala’s center and then radiating out to your positive attributes.

You can repeat this process as often as you need for as many old patterns, beliefs and limitations as you want to release.

I know many methods exist for helping us let go of stuff…this is just one. You’re welcome to pursue any practice that will help you. The sooner we can let go of these old patterns and limitations, the sooner we can begin living authentic lives.

It’s also a great way to prepare for the new year.

Here’s a great blog post from Daily Om about Revealing your True Self.
[added 12/2/2011]

Be sure to check out Section 12 of the 2011 Mandala of the Year.

Happy Coloring!

joyfully,

Maureen
The Mandala Lady

November 2011 MotM

Download the November 2011 Mandala of the month

I receive Vernon Howard’s Daily “Secrets of Life” emails. The posting for November 1 ties in nicely with the message of this month’s MotM: The Awakening.

“The reason a human being feels fear is because he has allowed himself, carelessly allowed himself to be invaded. It’s like a man sleeping in his home during the day. He’s supposed to be up and alert and looking around during the daylight, but he isn’t. He’s napping and vandals sneak and toss and tear and break, and he suffers the consequences of his own sleeping state. Now, you can learn how to stay awake so that when the psychic vandals plan to invade you, they will know they’re not going to get in the doors because your state of consciousness, of spiritual alertness is the lock. They cannot penetrate beyond the door that is locked by your understanding of yourself, of how fear operates.”
                      from a talk given 1/11/1986 AM
Vernon Howard’s Higher World – MP3 CD Volume 1, talk 6, track 6

Essentially what he’s saying is that when we maintain diligent awareness/consciousness, old programming, fears and the like are less likely to invade our space and take over our lives.

Speaking for myself,  I have lived mostly a knee-jerk reaction life; without really being aware of what I’m doing or saying, I just go about my day and then wonder how I arrived home or where I left my keys or wonder if I fed the dogs. And in relationships, I tend towards knee-jerk reactions if I think my state of being is under attack; I end up saying regrettable things before I realize I’m even talking.

It’s time to break away from old patterns that have stopped serving us anymore, that prevent us from reaching our fully potential. The more we pay attention, the more we take an extra moment before saying/doing/reacting, the more likely we will be able to live a more conscious/awake life.

So what does it mean to live a conscious life. It means that when we become fully present, in each moment we know exactly how we feel and think AND, more importantly, we have the option to choose again. In any given moment we have the option to choose peace, to choose joy, to choose love, to choose happiness.  The secret is, this can only be done by being fully aware, by being fully awake and in the moment.

The simplest way to reprogram ourselves, is to remember to take a breath before taking any action or before saying anything. Take that extra moment to process what’s really going on in that moment. Am I watching where I’m driving or am I rehashing my grocery list in my head? Did I really hear what someone said or am I already formulating what I’m going to say next? Am I really hungry or am I eating that cookie because it’s there in front of me?

One of my favorite lessons from “A Course in Miracles” is “I can see peace instead of this.” You can also change it to state “I can see joy instead of this” or any state of being you want.

On another level, we’re also being ask to awaken to our true spiritual selves. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” It’s easy to forget this and become lost in believing that we are human beings trying to be spiritual. Through being still, calming the mind, coloring mandalas, being creative, breath work, dreams, journaling and the like, we connect more deeply and directly with our higher selves, that part of ourselves that knows the truth, that knows we are all one, that loves and accepts us on all levels for who we really are…spiritual beings having a human experience.

Ponder this as you color this month’s Mandala of the Month.

Be sure to check out this month’s section of the 2011 Mandala of the Year.

Happy Coloring!

joyfully, Maureen, The Mandala Lady

October 2011 MotM

Download the October 2011 Mandala of the month

What does it mean to have an open heart? When we talk about it medically, we usually associate it with open heart surgery; when you have something so seriously wrong with your heart that it requires the surgeon to open up your chest in order to fully access the heart so it can be repaired.

For us, in this case, it means to open ourselves, our hearts, to the joy within, to the love within, to the divine within. I often hear myself and others say that they lack joy, love, or light in their lives and that we tend to look outside ourselves to find it. We forget that all this and more exists in us already…that we are the ones who put up the barriers to them. It would be as if I locked myself out of my house, while standing at the front door forgetting that I have the keys in my hand. It really is that simple and yet we make it so difficult.

In “A Course in Miracles” it calls them veils…that to remove these ‘barriers’ is as easy as lifting a veil. Ironically, we forget that we put the barriers/veils there in the first place because of some hurt, fear, or other misunderstanding. Somewhere along the line we decided to be hurt whenever someone says or does some particular thing to us. Most times it’s not even about us and yet we take it very personally. For me it’s the implication that I’m either stupid or wrong; that if I’m considered wrong or stupid then I’m unlovable, unacceptable, unworthy.

So how does this relate to an “open heart?” Yes, we may have issues, vulnerabilities, flaws, imperfections, quirks, idiosyncrasies, character defects, and the like…and that’s okay. Living with an open heart is knowing these things about ourselves and loving/accepting ourselves regardless. Rather than hiding from our character defects or trying to cover them up with false personas, acknowledge them, accept them because it’s only when we do this that we can then have the option to change them if we so desire.

We keep thinking we have to wait for the others to change, to love us, to approve of us, to accept us first when in fact it has to start with us. When we open our hearts to ourselves, our whole selves, we can open our hearts to others.

If you have the chance I highly recommend watching this you tube video from Dr. Brené Brown about living wholeheartedly, she explains all of this so well.

Ponder what it would be like to live with an open heart as you color this month’s mandala of the month.

And be sure to download/color this month’s section of the 2011 Mandala of the Year.

Happy Coloring!

joyfully, Maureen, The Mandala Lady

April 2011 MotM

Download the April 2011 Mandala of the month

The idea of “trust” seems to be popping up everywhere for me and others around me. It can be a big issue outside of ourselves…can we trust the media, our government, our boss, our neighbors, our family? While all important, the trust I speak of with this month’s mandala refers to self trust.

Can you trust yourself to do what you say you’re going to do? Can you trust yourself to make the “right” decision? Can you trust yourself to truly know what course of action would be best to take?

Sometimes I catch myself avoiding making any decision because I’m afraid I’ll pick the wrong one. The “what ifs” take over. What if I decide this way and then realize I should have gone that way? What if I don’t like the decision I’ve made? What if? What if? What if? In the meantime, I feel stuck right where I am.

In another post, I mentioned how this feels like being in a room with all these doors. Each door leading to a path based on a decision that I make. For the longest time, when I would think of this room of doors, I would see myself just sitting on the floor, with my head held down totally overwhelmed by my choices, feeling totally clueless as to which one to choose.

One day it occurred to me to just pick one…any one! If I truly regret the decision, go back and choose again. I just needed to trust that whatever happens, I could/can handle it by either continuing on the path or bowing out and choosing another path…just keep moving forward. If I do choose to bow out I need to remind myself to treat it as a learning experience rather than being “wrong”.

Another factor in the trusting yourself issue are the voices in my head. Which one do I listen to? One voice says to do this, another says to do that. How do I know when my true voice is speaking to me? In this case, I learned to use my body as a way to tell of which voice to listen.

Recently I needed to decide about going to an event in Salem. If I just listen to this one voice, I would have decided to just stay home. However, when I took the time to ponder the event, I paid attention to my body…it became all goose-bumpy and abuzz every time I thought about the Salem event. I learned that when my body does that, I know I’m sensing the truth…a “yes”. If my body feels blank or yucky, then I take that as a “no”. So I decided to trust what my body told me and went to the event. It turned out to be an extraordinary day and I’m truly grateful that I went.

I would recommend using this technique on small things to start out; for example, while walking downtown or in your neighborhood, check in with your body at each intersection to determine which way to go next. You may end up just having a lovely walk or you may happen upon some one or some thing that you would have missed had you just walked in any old direction.

My husband and I love to use the “walking man” as our guide while in Portland. At every intersection, wherever the walking man is flashing, we would go in that direction. One time while searching for a particularly hard-to-find restaurant, we decided to let the walking man direct us. We found the restaurant within 3 walking mans!

If you’re open to the idea, you can take this a step further. It is said we have any number of spiritual guides and angels around us to help us. Asking them for guidance can be a great way to step out of ourselves, to being open to other possibilities. For the longest time I struggled to determine if the guidance I heard was real. I started using my body in collaboration with the guidance I received. If it buzzed then I trusted to follow the guidance. Here too you can start out with some easy stuff to learn to trust yourself more and more. I like to use it to find parking spaces. For this one thrift store I love to frequent, I’ll usually throw out to my guides/angels…If it’s in my best interest to go to this store, then let there be a parking spot right in front of the store. One time I did this and 3 spots were open! I took that as a yes.

To summarize: this is about learning to trust yourself. Yes we’ve all made decisions that we have regretted, which makes it more difficult for us to trust our decision making abilities. If we truly look at those decisions, though, we realize that we learned something from everyone of them. And while they may have turned out differently than planned, in some way or another we have gained from them. When I think of my first marriage ending in divorce, I learned what I didn’t want in a husband. And now I have a great husband

Trust yourself to know that you can handle whatever comes your way. Trust you body to help you on a more intuitive level. And if you’re open to it, trust your guides and angels to help you on a spiritual level.

Ponder this as you color this mandala throughout the month of April.

Be sure to check out Section 4 of the Mandala of the Year.

Happy Coloring!

joyfully, Maureen, The Mandala Lady

October 2010 MOTM

Download the October 2010 Mandala of the month [~520k]

As human beings we live in a dualistic world; a world of opposites.  What often ends up happening is that the two opposites tend to oppose each other.

I’m here to remind us (as others are doing as well), that rather than oppose the opposites, embrace the opposites, find balance.

We need the light as we need the dark.  We need the sun as we need the moon.  We  need women as we need men.  How can we know good without knowing bad?  How can we experience joy without knowing sad?  Without up how can we have down…which would make enjoying roller coasters rather difficult.

I’ve probably said this before and I’m going to say it again…if we want to be happy, healthy, and wise, we need to find that balance between all these polarizing opposites.   Seek the value in both; find ways to have them work together.  This can be especially challenging with the upcoming mid-term elections for us here in the United States.

At the very core of our imbalance, is our left and right brain.  We as a culture ten to glorify the left brain (analytical) over the right brain (creativity)…just notice what gets cut from school budgets first?  music or science?

It amazes me that the powers that be have yet to figure out that maybe the best solution is to use the creative arts (music, art, dance, theater, etc) to teach the analytical (science, math, history, etc).  How fun would it be to have students put on a play about history; incorporating writing, art, music, etc. along with the historical data in the telling and learning of history?  Or how about using geometry to create art?  Most of my mandalas were created using math and geometry.

So ponder where in your life you need balance as you color this month’s mandala of the month.  Just the mere act of coloring balances both sides of your brain…that’s why you’ll feel more relaxed and focused after coloring.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

I would love to see your colorings…Upload them to Flickr at  http://www.flickr.com/groups/mandalas/

September 2010 MOTM

Download the September 2010 Mandala of the month [~700k]

Okay so even though this month’s MOTM is titled “My Happy Place”, it’s really about your happy place, about you finding and being in your own happy place.

A “happy place” can be literal or a state of mind.  Here are just a few of my happy places/times.

• whenever I eat a piece of reeeaaalllly goooooood piece of dark chocalate (moonstruck, godiva, etc.)
• riding a great roller coaster…some of my favorites? Montu, Top Thrill Dragster, Kumba, Superman, Blue Streak, Mean Streak, and Millennium Force
• whenever I’m doing something artsy-craftsy
• walking with my husband and/or dogs in the park
• anywhere along the Oregon coast (esp: Yachats, Newport, and Cascade Head)
• eating at my favorite restaurants…some of my favorites?  11 Maple Street, Evergreen, Thai Chili, Sharks, Jensen Ale House, Block 15 …to name just a few
• an afternoon nap
• smelling a fragrant rose
• being inside on a raining Oregon day

My best and most important place is when I take a nice long deep breath and exhale.  That always puts me in a happy place.  My situation is that I often forget that my happy place is just a breath away.  I’ve created a trigger for myself to help me remember…whenever I see a feather, it reminds me to breathe.

Where is your happy place?  Ponder this as you color this month’s mandala of the month.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

I would love to see your colorings…Upload them to Flickr at  http://www.flickr.com/groups/mandalas/

January 2010 MOTM

Download the January 2010 Mandala of the Month (~700kb)

Up until this morning I had little idea of what January’s MOTM would be.  Then I woke up from a short but powerful dream.  When I finished analyzing it I realized that I need to create more harmony and balance in my life.  Since today is New Year’s Eve, it seemed appropriate and fitting to declare this as my new year’s resolution for 2010:

Strive to create harmony and balance in every aspect of my life

If you want to read about the dream you can visit my dream blog

This mandala, to me, represents harmony…four objects floating along, separate but together.   In 2010 and beyond, let’s strive to each live our lives floating along, separate but together.

For the symmetry and asymmetry purists out there, this mandala may push your comfort levels a bit, since the two exist together here: the 4 symmetrical objects and then the asymmetrical background objects.

The idea of there being four objects is interesting as well.  In reading Carl Jung’s “Man and his Symbols” book, he talks about the four functions of consciousness:  thought, feeling, intuition and sensation.  Once suggestion I would offer is to is to focus on each function as you color each object and pay attention to what comes up for you as you do.

To all of you I whole heartily wish you a harmonious and balanced new year!

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

I would love to see your colorings…Upload them to Flickr at  http://www.flickr.com/groups/mandalas/

November MOTM

Before and during my recent travels to and from South Carolina, I found myself using the “H” (hate) word a lot.  To soften the harshness of the word, I’ll use h8 instead.

Some of what I said during the trip were: “I h8 how the airlines treat us like crap”, “I h8 having to go through security, it’s so degrading”, “I h8 the humidity”, “I h8 being hot”…you get the idea…a regular ole whiner I was.

Then on top of that I have the nerve to turn around and pontific8 about how awful it is that certain TV and radio programs promote and spread h8.  How am I any different from them with my thoughts and words of h8.  Yes they do it on a grander scale…but h8 is h8.  If we want to eliminate h8 from this planet, it has to start with us.

When I returned from my trip last week (10/21) I pondered this month’s MOTM and the word “grateful” popped into my head.  Ideas streamed in like instead of h8ing the airlines be grateful that I have the opportunity to fly anywhere.  Instead of h8ing that I have tinnitus be grateful that I can hear at all.  Instead of h8ing how much of a klutz I am, be grateful that I move around. Instead of h8ing the job, be grateful to have one.

Along with the gratitude, also see if anything can be done to change what we h8.  For example, send feedback to the airlines, have ears checked, be more careful, see if any other jobs are available or find a way to make the current one better.

After all this pondering, I then realized that November is the month of Thanksgiving here in the US.  How serendipitous (I got the spelling right the first time…yeah…I’m grateful my brain still works!)

So this month as we go about our days, be conscious of the subtle ways h8 infiltrates our thoughts and words.  Adopt an attitude of gratitude.

Go from h8ful to grateful!

Now go have fun coloring! 

Download the November 2009 Mandala of the Month (~650kb)

I would love to see your colorings…Upload them to Flickr at  http://www.flickr.com/groups/mandalas/

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

June 2009

It took persistence for me to draw out this month’s MTOM; five tries to be exact.  I almost accepted the second version even though I felt it was still off a bit.

The easy way out would have been to stop at that one yet I kept feeling like I had to try again.  On the fifth try it clicked for me.  It felt right.  I’m glad I persisted; otherwise I would have settled for something less than the best.

Throughout all versions, I kept hearing this phrase in my head:  “diamond in the rough.”  And when I was done, I heard “we are a work in progress.”

Last month’s MOTM was about finding balance and being gentle on ourselves.  Regardless of setbacks, keep moving forward.  Apparently, this month we expand on this them to add persistence to the mix.  Know that we are a work in progress; like a diamond, it takes time, some effort, and a lot of patience.

I heard that Edison made 1,000 light bulbs before he finally got it right.  When asked about it, he is quoted as saying, “We now know 1,000 ways not to build a light bulb. Each “failure” was another step toward success.”

In this day and age of instant everything, we as a culture tend to give up on things if they fail to work the first, second or even third time.  If you have a passion for something or a goal you want to achieve, be persistent.  Understand that set backs are just opportunities for adjustments; welcome them instead of dread them.  Like the song says “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”  I would also include “do a happy dance.”

Now go have fun coloring! 

Download the June 2009 Mandala of the Month (~680kb)

If the size of the file is a problem for you, let me know and I’ll make a smaller file version.

If you want to be notified when the next month’s mandala is available, subscribe in the upper right corner.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady

May 2009 MOTM

This was a two day process.  Yesterday while meditating I saw the 3-pointed celtic-like image.  The rest came today while sketching out the entire mandala.

How easy is it for you to be off balance?  For me, it usually takes a rude driver, eating dairy (lactose intolerant), too little sleep, or forgetting to stay centered and grounded.

Ever watch people who walk a high wire?   They delicately balance themselves as they slowly and steadily walk across the wire.  Rather than being rigid, they fluidly waver ever so slightly back and forth, constantly adjusting their balance with every step.

How many times have we declared we’re going to ____________ (fill in the goal) and then have a set back (loose our peace, eat that piece of cake, smoke one more cigarette, miss a deadline, etc.).

Forget about being hard on yourself for the misstep.  Instead get back on the wire and keep moving forward.  We’ll make better progress by doing a pattern of two steps forward and one step back than by stopping and giving up completely.

One of my favorite quotes of late is by Vernon Howard (www.anewlife.org) who said, “The single most important thing is for you to persist in spite of everything.”

Now go have fun coloring! 

Download the May 2009 Mandala of the Month (~800kb)

If the size of the file is a problem for you, let me know and I’ll make a smaller file version.

If you want to be notified when the next month’s mandala is available, subscribe in the upper right corner.

Happy Coloring!

Maureen, The Mandala Lady