Flower Mandalas

Doronicum Orientale I

Discussion:
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group

Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Dying Pansy I

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few of us would wish for: a massive stroke. What she learned from it about the right and left brains seems relevant to all of us, and I'm passing it on here.

Her experience also sounds loosely parallel to two experiences I have had, and it has echoes in my experience of making art and being affected by it.

In my case, after a week at a meditation retreat, the death by suicide of a close friend, and two weeks with pneumonia, I had the sense Bolte describes, for about 45 minutes, of being one with the mass of particles and energy that make up the cosmos. It was as if everything looked like a pointillist painting, and so did I, though things still looked literally the same. Nevertheless, I felt in a continuum with the sand, the surf, the wind, the dogs running on the beach, the mist in the air, the sunlight. The sensation lasted until I'd had several brief encounters with people on the beach, and then I returned, mostly, to my more conventional view of reality. The other was my sense, during a near-death experience, of being bodiless and identityless and being utterly at peace in the threshhold between living and dying.

Both of these experiences are somewhat echoed when I am deeply involved in making art, and when I am fully tuned in during counseling sessions. I have a sense of being tapped into something much larger and more universal than myself, and to being a conduit for a vast energy that joins us all.

What transcendent, "right brain" experiences have you had? I'd like to hear about them, either here or in the Art, Healing, and Transformation group.

Thanks!

More anon,
- David
David J. Bookbinder, LMHC

Discussion:
Living in the Right Side of the Brain
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group

Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Galliardia 'Arizona Sun'

Discussion:
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group

Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Dying Amaryllis VII

Discussion:
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group

Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Blue Pansy I

Discussion:
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group

Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Beach Rose II Discussion: Art, Healing, and Transformation group Flower Mandalas Project group Cultivating Creativity group Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas © 2008, David J. Bookbinder...

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Bachelor's Button III Discussion: Art, Healing, and Transformation group Flower Mandalas Project group Cultivating Creativity group Request a flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas © 2008, David J. Bookbinder...

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'Cultivating Creativity' Group logo Below are reports from two members of the 'Cultivating Creativity' group documenting their experiences as "miracle partners" in the group, and beyond. Chrysalis's story The cultivating creativity group came along for me a couple of...

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Pink Dahlia I Opening: n. The act or an instance of becoming open or being made to open. An open space serving as a passage or gap. A breach or aperture. A clearing in the woods. The first part...

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Pale Pink Tulip II Among my other activities, I run a writing group for people with addiction issues, past or present. I call it "Memoirs of Addiction and Recovery." We usually begin with a freewriting exercise, and either I...

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