My Word of the Year: Intention

tangles used: crescent moon, fescu, florz, and the word: intention

Mandala Monday is back! YAY!!!

Hmm... I'm not even sure where we left off with Mandala Monday. I'm guessing it was sometime in November before four billion tasks rose to the surface and begged for attention in December...

I missed Mandala Monday. I LOVE visiting The Bright Owl for Erin's templates and using them to create cool Zendalas. I also found that when I stopped doing this I more or less stopped tangling altogether. That just won't do. Zentangle as a practice is very important to me and this is a great way to supplement my practice. So, away we go!

Erin (Erin is the author and artist at The Bright Owl who posts a new Zendala template each week) wasn't pleased with her template and she challenged us to think BIG, then bring those plans to fruition. As I sat with my template all I could really think is that my stomach hurt. I decided to start with the tangle: crescent moon. I thought it might be fun to only use crescent moon for the entire Zendala! I didn't think of it at the time, but I think crescent moon appealed to me because my belly is sticking out like a crescent moon today! I stuck with crescent moon in the beginning, which was the center for me, but then the rest of the space seemed too big to continue so I introduced a few additional tangles and my word of the year: Intention.

When I was all finished I turned to my assistant and very best girl to ask her opinion. Do I keep it black and white? Or add some color? She stared at my Zendala for a good 15 seconds.

We spent a lot of time like this today. She coughed and I belly ached.

Then she said, "I think you should make the whole thing purple."

As is most often the case, it would have been hard to do anything BUT what my almost five year-old purple loving artist daughter suggests, and so I pulled out my new chalk-pastel coloring pencils (which I love madly, by the way) and colored the whole thing purple. Voila!

So, this word of the year thing. Yes, I have heard of it in years past and no, I have never chosen a word of the year before. It sounded very intriguing to me. I spent a lot of time thinking about just the right word and changing it around before I settled on intention.

in·ten·tion

1   a determination to act in a certain way: resolve

2

: import, significance

3

a : what one intends to do or bring about

b : the object for which a prayer, mass, or pious act is offered

Thank you Merriam-Webster.com.

Zendalas are all about intention. You can set an intention before you make one or as you take a look at one, a lot like walking a labyrinth or working on a maze. You would set an intention in the same way you set one for meditation or before yoga practice. It's the perfect way to empty your mind of all its confusion, focus on one task, which in this case is repeating patterns with deliberate strokes, and end with some clarity - another reason why I love Mandala Monday. It's a wonderful way to start the week.

I want to act with resolve this year. I want to be very deliberate, thoughtful, and mindful of what the choices I am making and who I am being each day this year. In 2012, I went balls out. I was all over the place - learning, trying new things, meeting new people, and moving at an often frenzied pace. I missed appointments, forgot things, and stopped taking really good care of myself (which is important to me because I want to be able to play on the floor with my grandkids one day). It was a GREAT year! (hee hee) Really and truly it was, but now I need to be a little more careful. I need to figure out what is most important. Sacred even. And move forward with intention in the spirit of supporting those sacred things. It will be another great year and I am SO excited about it. I am really excited about my word too. Intention and I... let's just say we go together in 2013.

For Mandala Monday, I invite you to set an intention and if you aren't ready to make a mandala, spend a few minutes looking into the purple, letting go of the confusion in your head, and paying attention to what comes up for you. It might look like this:

1. Set an intention, let's say to be grateful.
2. Take a deep breath (breathing is a great practice in general).
3. Quiet your mind... maybe draw circles over and over again, stare into the purple, or do nothing...
4. Wait. Listen. Take note of anything that comes up.
5. You're done.

You may not even realize it, but deliberately choosing to be grateful for those few minutes was of benefit to you. You may have relished in the image of someone who graces your life with their presence, and like a little prayer, your gratitude warmed that person. It's a lot like prayer.

Try it. It works! It may take some practice, but it definitely works. I like to begin a Zendala with the question, "What do I need to know right now?" By the time I'm finished I often have an answer to something I've been wondering about. Answering the questions that plague us is so much easier when we stop trying so hard to answer them with our minds, and instead quiet our minds and open up to the messages in our hearts. No stress, no worries - just have fun with it.

Thank you! xo

Epilogue: after all my talk about intention and hitting Enter on this post, I immediately left to take my girl to dance class. We were running very late. I was so intent on getting there that I DROVE RIGHT BY HER STUDIO! I didn't even realize it. Okay, it was dark oustide, but geez! These are the types of mindless mistakes I'd like to minimize in my life! Thank God for practice. Maybe I ought to add "practice" to the front of intention? But that would be two words. Sigh...

Moments of Truth and Inspiration

Ah, it's been awhile... I cannot believe it is already January 9, 2013. Wow. Oh, and Happy New Year, by the way. The holidays were such a blur. I almost feel as if I'm waking up from a dream - it all happened so fast. I don't regret a second of it, but my head is still spinning.

In the midst of the holiday season our nation witnessed a tragedy - Sandy Hook. No need to say more. My heart still hurts for the families of the little ones who died that day.

As is the case in times of darkness, light bearers come forth to shine their lights upon us.

I was lucky enough to catch one of those light bearers in action when she offered an opportunity for fellow artists, or anyone really, to participate in making Inspiration Decks for the family of Sandy Hook. Her name is Jessica and she writes about her Sandy Hook project here, in a post on her blog, In Search of Dessert. I saw Jessica's post about her idea on Facebook and decided to participate. I had never done this before, but Jessica provided links to tutorials so I wasn't too worried.

Jessica selected quotes for each of the participants and we each made 26 cards (for 26 families - 26 decks). Just looking at the quotes I could tell that they were chosen very carefully and with a heart full of love.

I asked Jessica what inspired her to take on this project. She said the following:

"Everyone making something so beautiful and thoughtful - all this art being made for Sandyhook. I wanted to know if there was a way that our Inspirational cards could literally be "inspiring" for these grieving families. I deliberately chose quotes for the participants (unless they had a specific one in mind) that would both comfort AND inspire them to know they'd heal and grow from this horrible experience. That they are not alone, nor forgotten, nor have they lost their loved ones "for good." Many quotes made reference to the true love, which transcends bodily form." 

While I was traveling over the holidays, Brave Girls Club (an entire tribe of women bearing light) announced a project along the same lines - a Brave Girl Truth Card Exchange. I won't go into too much detail because you can read all about it here. Very, very simply, Brave Girls Club is partnering with Full Circle Exchange to do big, beautiful things. One of these things is taking truth cards made by Brave Girls all over the world to survivors of human trafficking all over the world. It's so incredible to imagine something like that, like the beginning of a worldwide love epidemic.

Spreading the truth about who each of is  - goodness and kindness, strength and beauty, and crazy fabulous love - at our cores, in the center of our souls is something the Brave Girls Club does very well. Making truth cards, again - little cards bearing words and art - is a big part of that, and is something done at Brave Girl camp and in some of the Brave Girl classes offered online. I love making truth cards for myself and I LOVE the idea of sharing these truths with other women.

When I got back from my holiday travels, after the New Year, I got to work.

First, the cards for the Sandy Hook Inspiration Deck.

And in between - truth cards for survivors of human trafficking.

I imagined a mother. A mother receiving a collection of card-sized pieces of art, and not really knowing what to do with them. She may set them aside. She may come back to them. I thought about the hole my dad's death (almost three years ago) left in my heart. Thinking about my own little 6 year-old son, I couldn't even allow myself to imagine the hole left by the loss of a child. It is an unimaginable loss. I have always turned to the words of others to help me make sense of things I don't understand. I remembered the comfort I felt when I read inspiring, hopeful quotes about grief. Like a warm cup of soothing tea for my soul, the words helped fill the spots in my heart that emptied when my dad passed away. I hoped that the mothers who would eventually hold my cards would feel some sense of comfort knowing that they were being held in the hearts of many.   

I imagined a woman. A survivor. I couldn't imagine what she had been through. Again, unimaginable. But I could imagine Melody Ross, who founded Brave Girls Club with her sister, handing this woman a truth card. Melody is without a doubt an Earth Angel. Loving kindness drips from her pores. I had the privilege of meeting her this summer, and am inspired daily by her art, her words, and her work. So, I could imagine this woman being moved by Melody's kind and loving ways. I could imagine the love she would feel in Melody's warm embrace (Brave Girls are huggers). I hoped that in the absence of Melody, my little truth card might remind this woman the truth of who she is when she doubts it.

What if each of us had some artifact that told us we were being held in the hearts of many? Or, that told us the truth of who we are? The impact of these little gifts is so powerful. As Jessica said, these are gifts of true love, which transcends bodily form.

Within a week of introducing the partnership with Full Circle Exchange, Brave Girls Club received 1500 truth cards. FIFTEEN. HUNDRED. That is true love.

In these small gestures, these moments of truth and inspiration, lies a great big, HUGE, DEEP, deep well of love. This love is there for all of us. People like Jessica and Melody help us to manifest that love. Thankfully. But we can manifest it for ourselves and for each other too. It's there waiting. A big well of love for all of us. There are no shortages. The well never runs dry. I promise. Jump in.

xoxo