When May began, I was asking myself the question, "What in My Life Needs Pruning?" with the noble intention of letting go of activities and pursuits that took energy and time away from what I value most -- time and space for creativity, contemplation and nurturing the projects (like this blog) that repeatedly get pushed to the back burner.
Read MoreAlmost a decade ago, I planted three Knock Out® rose bushes in my front flower bed. These roses are marketed as low maintenance, and because of this they became very popular in my area. When I heard low maintenance, I interpreted it to mean virtually no maintenance and it took just a season to realize my error.
Read MoreWhen there are five Sundays in a month, I take a break from my weekly mandala making to contemplate my learnings from the practice and take a look back over my life since the last fifth Sunday reflection.
Since beginning this practice, fifth Sundays have occurred a maximum of every three months. This time; however, we have a four month span to cover, which feels like a metaphor for what seems to have been an eternal winter.
Read MoreWhen I began creating Sunday Morning Mandalas, I did not imagine that I would sustain the practice for an entire year. As I approached the one year mark in October, I thought I would take a break after and maybe begin anew in January. But, golden maple leaves flagged me down on the side of the road that first Sunday in November, and I could not resist bringing them home - not only to my physical home, but the home poet John O'Donohue was referring to when he wrote "when we experience the beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming." His book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace elucidates better than I ever could why this practice impacts me and others the way it does.
Read MoreI spent the final days of October last year in three days of solitude and silence atop Monteagle Mountain as I've done every Autumn since 2010. While there, I made the first of what would be many natural mandalas from materials I found while out walking.
Read MoreAs I walked and gathered items for this week's mandala, Irma was on my mind. She seems so symbolic of the times in which we are living. As we grapple with questions of immigration and the reality of climate change, our country's literal borders are being beaten back by the hands of mother nature. Across the nation, many of our number appear to be struggling to maintain our footing in the swirl of chaos and fear surrounding us. It is not surprising that some have wondered aloud if we are not at the end of days.
Read MoreMy fifth Sunday practice is to take the day off from my usual mandala making to reflect on the practice and whatever life has happened along the way. Indeed, life happened. Lots of it. My usual habits and routines were completely disrupted over the past three months, with May being a time of celebration and life transitions.
Read MoreThe Creative Contemplative invites seekers to explore creativity as spiritual practice; nurturing our relationship to divine mystery through the arts.
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