Mandala/ Gratitude and Closure

I’ve been contemplating closure these past few days. In reality nothing ever truly ends, it only transforms. Energy can not be created nor destroyed. It is however, still advisable to mark the ending of things ceremonially. It is good practice for our emotional/ mental health. A few recent conversations have brought up the parallels between closure and gratitude. One way to transform negative feelings about the ending of an experience, is to practice gratitude. We can do this by being grateful for whatever it was that experience brought into our lives, and the lessons it taught us.

So, I was wondering how to make a shrine about gratitude? In Buddhist traditional mandalas are seen as perfect and abundant offerings to the divine and a gesture of pure gratitude. In fact it is encouraged to see everything in our daily lives as a mandala, and as an offering to the divine. Especially beautiful and nurturing items such as flowers and food. The more colors, textures, smells etc, represented the better.

Here is today’s mandala of gratitude and closure at the Well.
The Circle represents things coming full circle, the way the layers kept bleeding together as I constructed it was challenging. It was also a lesson on how everything is always connected and has cross over. We only tell our selves we have control over things, and can compartmentalise things. But this is merely an illusion. The strive for control is a fear based thought. I choose to come from a place of love over fear. I need often reminders of this.
This mandala was especially awesome in the scent department with Lilly of the valley, lilac, honeysuckle and rose! Yum!