David J. Bookbinder: February 2008 Archives

Fifteen Flower Mandalas

I'd like to take this space to thank those of you who have downloaded my free Fifteen Flower Mandalas screensaver, and particularly those who have written back. The responses so far have been interesting. Until now, I didn't know that people from all parts of the world -- from the tip of Alaska to Cape Town and beyond -- were checking into this blog. That, alone, is gratifying. And I'm grateful to those of you who shared your positive responses to my work, and to those, as well, who have shared their similar struggles with life, death, near-death, and everything in between. It has been, and continues to be, a heart-warming bounty. Thank you.

Several of you have asked me to send you, along with the screensaver, the "meaning" of each mandala. There's no simple answer to this question. I can list the flowers from which they were derived, and some feelings and thoughts that occur to me when I look at them, but I believe each viewer, if he or she meditates on a particular image, will come away from it with a different sense, one specific to that person in that moment.

Here are the flowers. They match up, from top-left to bottom-right, with the mandalas in the above image.

Row 1: Beach Rose, Blue Pansy, Dandelion Head, Daylily (rear view), Dying Amaryllis.
Row 2: Galliardia 'Arizona Sun', Iris Germanica, Marigold, Pink Dahlia, Pink Peony.
Row 3: Queen Anne's Lace, Violet Morning Glory, White Lily, White Rose, Yellow Lily.

Some feelings I get (now, today): From the Beach Rose, love. From the Blue Pansy, stillness. From the Dandelion Head, rebirth. From the Dying Amaryllis, vastness and motion. From the Galliardia, surprise. From the Iris Germanica, a meeting of masculine and feminine energy. From the Marigold, momentum and stability (the 'flywheel'). From the Pink Dahlia, openness. From the Pink Peony, protection. From the Queen Anne's Lace, playfulness. From the Violet Morning Glory, a holy spirit. From the White Lily, complexity. From the White Rose, transformation. From the Yellow Lily, strength.

What feelings do you get from these images? Let me know, either as a comment to this post or to in the Art, Healing, and Transformation group.

More anon, and thanks in advance for your responses.

See you in cyberspace,
- David
David J. Bookbinder, LMHC

Request a free flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

Discussion:
The 'Meaning' of Fifteen Flower Mandalas
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Fifteen Flower Mandalas

Fifteen years ago this Thursday, I nearly bled to death in an Albany, NY, hospital. During that event, I had a near-death experience which set me on my current spiritual and artistic path. In commemoration of that upcoming re-birthday, I offer a screensaver containing the fifteen flower mandalas in the image above.

To get a free copy, click here to e-mail me your request with the subject line "flower mandalas screensaver request." I'll send you a Zip file containing the screensaver. The filename is "Flower Mandalas.zip." Unzip it and then double-click the extracted "Flower Mandalas.exe" file to install it as your Windows screensaver.

NOTE: This screensaver only runs on Windows machines. I don't have a way to create one that runs on the Mac.

This screensaver is my small way of saying "thanks" to the Universe for letting me hang out here these past fifteen years. I hope you enjoy it. It's been an interesting ride so far....

More anon,
- David
David J. Bookbinder, LMHC

Request a free flower mandala screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas

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

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Orange Zinnia I

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers, and thanks for helping build a community around art, healing, and transformation.

More anon,
- David

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

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Beach Rose I flower mandala

More anon,
- David

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

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Marigold V flower mandala

The Wikipedia defines a flywheel as "a rotating disc used as a storage device for kinetic energy." Flywheels are primarily used to maintain steady movement when the power that rotates them fluctuates, as in a potter's wheel or a piston-based engine.

Vehicles need flywheels in order to keep their engines from moving in a jerky fashion. Potter's wheels need flywheels to ensure that the rotation of the wheel remains constant. And most of us need flywheels for basically the same reason -- to even out the vibration, to keep the forward motion constant.

A lot of what I do as a therapist is to help people to find their flywheels.

By "to find their flywheels," I mean to discover an interest or passion that they do just for themselves, something that is not part of a job, a chore, or that they do for friends or family, or that is dependent on time or season. A personal flywheel is something that, when you apply even intermittent energy to it, keeps on going in a steady sort of way. When other aspects of your life take a hit, the flywheel keeps the engine turning.

A personal flywheel can be almost anything you feel passionate about and connected to. For some people, it is a spiritual connection and the activities associated with it, whether they be participating in a religious community or in their own private rituals and observations. For others, it is a physical activity -- working out, doing yoga, playing a sport not for the sake of competing, but for its own sake. Outdoor activities like gardening, hiking, boating, or fishing also may fill that role.

For many, artistic activities are their flywheels. In my own case, writing and photography have been flywheels for much of my adult life. These activities are things my attention goes to whenever there is nothing else pressing, as if in the back of my mind a miniaturized, but very heavy, potter's wheel is spinning, spinning, and all I have to do is give it a little kick to keep up the momentum. When other areas of my life flag -- health, relationships, work, and so on -- I tend to pour a little more energy into my creative endeavors, as the energy of the flywheel needs to keep the rest of the engine going for a while. If I'm busy with other things, I may not be able to put as much into my flywheel activities, but the momentum from past efforts keeps it moving over these rough spots, until I get a chance to give it another kick.

What's your personal flywheel?

More anon,
- David

Discussion:
What's Your Personal Flywheel?
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group

© 2008, David J. Bookbinder

Stained Glass, Toronto, Ontario (Click here for a "mandalaized" view) Tom Neufer Emswiler is a retired United Methodist minister who has been teaching courses in literature and spirituality. He speaks, here, of his background as a minister and his...

Dark to Light Suns (view larger image) This post is not so much about art and healing/transformation, though art has played its part, but about the transformative power of the spiritual imagination. About a year ago, I was stricken...