Mandalas: Creating Order from Chaos

I began drawing mandalas during a very stressful time in my life. Everything I knew was changing and I was trying to find my bearings in the chaos. For some, mandalas are part of a spiritual journey, but for me creating mandalas forced me to be intentionally engaged with long-forgotten geometry skills and attention to detail. They provided a break from all the "what ifs" and "what now" big questions that plagued my thoughts. I began to see potential mandalas in dinner plates, coasters, defunct clocks... They were everywhere!

My favorite mandala story began when I was walking alone down a country road, headphones in, trying to calm my frantic brain and I spotted a discarded table, legs broken in the ditch. I ventured down into the weeds and retrieved a 24 inch grey tabletop with the price scrawled on the back in permanent marker... $79.99. As I was walking home with my treasure, my daughter drove by and asked if she could bring my garbage home for me. Not a chance! I was inspired! The picture above shows the finished piece and I left the price on the back as a reminder that even though we are damaged by our circumstances, there can still be beauty and order in our world.

With life on a more even keel these days I now do mandalas purely for the joy of discovering new patterns, colour combinations and designs but I will always be thankful to God for the mandala, helping me create order from my chaos.