Thursday, September 15, 2011

Healing mandalas

For more than a decade I've had the desire to attend college. Something I was in the process of doing just before becoming ill thirteen years ago. Every summer I researched courses, both in terms of study- (social science) and creative courses. Every September I had to acknowledge (what I already knew) that I was not able to attend a class for more than an hour at the time (an absolute maximum)... and they are rather hard to come by :-)
So I gave up in a sense, but to fulfill my wish to study in some way, I followed a few correspondence courses through the Open College of the Arts. I studied Understanding Western Art and Starting to Write. The first course took me over 2 years, in stead of the recommended 7 months, but I did it! ... (and have forgotten pretty much all I've learned...) 
Correspondence course are great, but it is solitary.

One course that I kept hoping for to do "for real" was the Art and Design Course run by VTOS an adult education organisation. For years I enquired if it would be possible to do just one module. 
No.
Until this year.
To spare you the details of struggle that I still had to overcome, I did get the opportunity to attend one class.
Weaving with Pascale De Coninck 
Tuesday was my first class.
I loved it!
Being creative in a group, meeting like minded people, learn a new skill, and to my delight I live to tell the tale, is all very positive indeed.



Waiting for my lift home, I sat outside and found this flower- a part of a brooch perhaps? I stuck it in my pocket. A reminder of my first day back to school.
The day after, I received a letter in the post from my 90-plus-year-old friend Wera Goldman Wera is a dance teacher- she still has a few students. This woman is a true inspiration. We only met recently via my puppeteer friend Bentsi in Israel, and we now communicate via post.
I love getting her letters, flamboyant writing, little snippets of life around her, and always something to take my breath away. In her latest letter she wrote about one of her new students who teaches mandala drawing. Wera drew a flower to illustrate... pretty much the same shape as the flower I had found the day before.
I was speechless.

Thank you Wera, and thank you to whomever is looking after me on my journey.

Wera's letter is just one of the synchronicities that are happening right now.
Being aware brings them all to my attention.

Lots of love and healing to you all.
Thanks for coming along on my journey.

4 comments:

Sue Page said...

Hi Corina! So glad to read these positive things, and happy that you are able to get involved at least a litle in the things you have so patiently waited for.

I love mandalas too - I can colour them in a bit at the moment, and have a software program that enables me to create complex ones easily when I can. I hope I will get well enough to draw them again from scratch one day.

Hope all continues well for you, take care as ever please!
Sue xxx

Corina Duyn said...

Hi there Sue, glad to see you here again and thanks for the comments. "Patiently waiting for" is a bit of an understatement... :-)

Mandalas are great, I've coloured books full of them over the years, but never actually created one. Look forward to see yours!

I will take care to take care. Please do the same.
X

Kirsten said...

love those synchronicities in life that leave you speechless! so happy for you that you finally got to a class (i don't underestimate what an accomplishment and triumph that must have been).

XXOO kirsten
(another love of mandalas)

Corina Duyn said...

Thank you Kisten,
Glad you also see the synchronicities in life. I believe when we are aware of them, we are alive- fully alive... I think you know what I mean.

Today going to my class again.
Exciting.
XX