Creativity, for me, means taking inspiration from your imagination and making something exist in reality. We are creating all the time, just by making plans in our minds and seeing them through in the physical world. But there are ways to be creative with intentionality to express our inner most selves and to challenge ourselves.

I had the immense privilege and pleasure of experiencing the creative act of building a house - designing a layout in 3D software and then building that design in the real world. That was hugely satisfying. And I’ve run a stop-motion animation company for 10 years - creating miniature worlds and taking my and other people’s ideas and crafting music videos, art films and advertisements.

Creating this business has used far more of my creative mind than I realized it would. Coming up with a business and seeing it through is a substantial creative act. And then the numerous creative acts like making flyers, videos for posts online, making a website, crafting newsletters like this one, coming up with ideas for events, painting the business sign, and more. So many small creative endeavors to lead to a unified whole.

We can use symbolic creativity to examine our minds and come to profound internal realizations, all without using words. One form of creative meditation is to create a mandala. A mandala is, in simplest terms, a configuration of symbols within a circle or symmetrical pattern. A mandala can be used as a visual map of a healing journey or to understand an individual problem or map the unconscious desires of your own mind and for many other contemplations, whatever you dream up! Following intuition, you draw out colors, symbols, shapes - they can be intentionally representational or fluid and formless. You create your mandala by, for example, asking a question or pondering a situation or expressing a concern, and then you have a visual device of your own creation to offer another way to enlighten yourself about your own situation or concern or big plans. Creating a mandala in this way is not about making the best piece of artwork or the most beautiful picture, it’s about working with yourself through intuitive visual language to understand something differently or more deeply.

I’ve decided to offer basic templates for mandala drawing here at Twin Wolves, along with some colored pencils. Young or old, we can all benefit from a little creative visual meditation. I’ll have some sheets of paper with a pre-drawn circle and you can fill in whatever your heart desires. These are great for passing time between appointments, or waiting for a loved one during their appointments, or occupying a child who’s come along for the ride.

Maybe we’ll offer a mandala drawing class, would you attend?

Below are some Healing Mandalas that I’ve made.