“True Heart”

“I love, honor, and respect all that I am”

I created one full-color version using color pencils:

This was a commissioned mandala for a young couple getting married. They wanted to make a special framed piece that would include their marriage license, the signatures of those in attendance at their wedding, and their personalized mandala. During the meditation for creating this mandala, this celtic-looking design came through. It seems like a simple design yet it becomes more complex as you look at it in more detail.

The Message

True Heart reminds us that the best way to live a wholehearted life is to love, honor and respect ourselves and all that we are. It can seem like a tall order and yet when we do come from our True Heart our lives change for the better.

At first we may experience resistance from those around us and even from ourselves in the form of self-sabotage. Since our human nature tends to resist change, we’ll be tested to find out if we’re really serious about this. To which we say: stay strong

To gain some perspective on this issue…

• How can we expect others to truly respect us when we fail to respect ourselves?
• How can we expect others to truly honor us when we fail to honor ourselves?
• How can we expect others to truly love us when we fail to love ourselves?

And at the same time…

• How can we truly respect others when we fail to respect ourselves?
• How can we truly honor others when we fail to honor ourselves?
• How can we truly love others when we fail to love ourselves?

So where do we begin our quest? Start by paying attention to our thoughts, words and actions. Are we coming from a place of love, honor and respect? Or are we coming from a place of fear or fear disguised as a negative emotion such as anger, shame, or hurt?

When we realize that it’s from a place of fear, rather than hide from it, we need to acknowledge it, and then work through it. Keep in mind…would we rather have our negative emotions control our actions or our True Heart?

Dr. Susan Jeffers offers a great reason for working through fear from her book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” (which I highly recommend):

Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness.

I also highly recommend Dr. Brené Brown‘s book “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are”

Once we work through the fear, then it’s just a matter of creating new habits that support our overall well-being.  And when we come from this place, we will naturally love, honor, and respect ourselves and those around us as well as modeling for them how they can love, honor and respect themselves.

The first step is to know that

We are all worthy of love, honor and respect.

Namaste

FYI…

• “True Heart” – sold
• “True Heart” can by found in the Sanctuary Mandala Coloring Book

joyfully, Maureen
The Mandala Lady