Soul food

Ahhhh....just had a lovely day with mom at the Piedmont Cancer Wellness Center.  We started off with an amazing Qi Gong class, had lunch overlooking the city, and then let our creative juices flow at the art of Mandala making class.  My dear friend Karen also came after a grueling morning of chemo...bless her.  After we created our Mandalas, the teacher read to us about the 12 different stages of "the round" and which style mandala fit with each.   Mine fit the 8th stage, the Functioning Ego:

• ability to work comfortably in group settings, organizations, or alone, whichever is needed to accomplish your goals
• inspiration becomes reality through great effort, and takes on a form that is seen and appreciated by others
• you are actively engaged toward personal goals, living life on life’s terms, using the imagination to the fullest to create new and wondrous things
• on the spiritual level, healing takes place through finding ways of sharing wisdom gently and respectfully with others, in ways they can understand

The description seems so great for the timing.  And, my picture looks somewhat similar to the one I picked for my last post.  I must be channeling that wavelength these days.

Mom's was the stage of Transcendent  Ecstasy!  That's a good one, eh?  I wished I had taken a picture of her's to post here.  I'll try to get my hands on it.  But here is the description for hers:

"A change of consciousness – a feeling of fulfilment, of awareness of our relationship to a higher power, a sensation of rising from the earth in exultant joy. Images more often than not have an uplifting quality about them and contain only the one single image (although sometimes there tends to be a focal point implied above or near the top of the image). The images are powerful, yet playful. The task at this stage is to accept the gift of grace and to plant the seed for a new cycle to begin."
 
So another day of soul-food.  I just can't seem to get enough lately!  And these experiences, each one, gives us greater inspiration of how we look at moving forward.  There is such a rich source of good people in Atlanta to welcome to the retreat to teach, lead courses, and heal people.  We certainly are fortunate!

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you have a great weekend!  I know mine is off to a good start.  Now to get ready to have my brothers over for dinner tonight.  Oh, how I love those boys and feel incredibly grateful for them.