Keep active

Here is a snippet from Beyond Blue
Exercise is important for maintaining both good physical health and mental health.

Start small and build up slowly - If a person is going through a period of depression, they may have difficulty with simple things such as getting up and getting dressed in the morning. Don't try to do too much too early. It's a good idea to start with easy activities and slowly build on them.

Include other people - When people don't feel like doing much, planning social outings/activities can help them get moving. If the person doesn't have an established social network, they could consider joining a local club or group.

Don't be too hard on yourself - A plan is only a rough guide that should be flexible. If an activity runs overtime or can't be completed, skip it and move onto the next one.

Reward yourself - Allow time to do enjoyable, interesting, relaxing and satisfying activities. Some cheap, entertaining and easy pass-times include reading, listening to music, watching movies, gardening, going to the beach or park, taking part in sporting or creative activities, shopping, seeing friends and playing with pets.

all the advice you ever gave

"all the advice you ever gave your partner is for you to hear" Byron Katie

Drawing Mandalas

"When I began drawing the mandalas, I saw that everything, all paths I had been following all the steps I had taken were leading back to a single point - namely, to the midpoint. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation." Carl Jung

Creating and Interpreting Mandalas

Mandalas, Carl Jung, and the Practice of Art Therapy

The mandala—a circular, balanced design—appears across cultures as a symbol of wholeness and harmony. For Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the mandala was more than an art form; it represented the Self, the totality of our inner world. In art therapy, mandalas are a gentle tool for reflection, emotional regulation, and self-discovery.

Why Jung Valued Mandalas

Jung noticed that people often drew circles or symmetrical designs during times of stress or transition. He believed these images symbolized the psyche’s natural movement toward balance and integration. Creating or observing a mandala, he said, could stabilize the mind and help bridge the conscious and unconscious.

“For Jung, drawing a mandala was a ritual of centering—a conversation between the inner and outer world.”

Mandalas in Art Therapy

• Grounding and calming: The circular form naturally soothes and focuses attention.
• Externalizing the inner world: Mandalas give shape to emotions that are hard to express in words.
• Insight and integration: Colors and patterns can reflect aspects of the unconscious.
• Containment: The circle provides a safe boundary for exploring difficult feelings.

Try These Simple Mandala Exercises

1. Ten-Minute Grounding Mandala

1. Draw or trace a circle on paper.
2. Set a 10-minute timer and begin filling the circle from the center outward using lines, dots, or colors.
3. When finished, breathe deeply and notice what emotions or images arose.

Prompt: “If this mandala could speak, what would it say?”

2. Emotion-Mapping Mandala

1. Choose a feeling you want to explore—anxiety, grief, joy, or hope.
2. Divide the circle into sections for different aspects of that emotion.
3. Use color, texture, or symbols to fill each section.
4. Afterward, reflect: What surprised you? What feels meaningful?

Prompt: “Point to a part of the mandala and say, ‘This part is…’”

3. Ritual Mandala for Transition

1. Write what you are leaving behind on one side of the page, and what you are moving toward on the other.
2. Create a mandala that holds both energies—perhaps two colors meeting in the center.
3. When complete, reflect or say a simple sentence of closure or intention.

Prompt: “What does the center hold for you in this moment?”

For Therapists and Facilitators

• Focus on the process, not the product.
• Offer grounding before and after creative work.
• Use open questions (“What stands out to you?”) rather than interpretation.

Reflection Questions

1. How did making the mandala affect your body and emotions?
2. What colors or patterns appear often for you?
3. What personal meaning might your mandala hold today?

Creating mandalas can be a way to slow down and listen. As Jung observed, forming a circle mirrors our inner movement toward balance and meaning. Whether used for calming, reflection, or exploring life transitions, mandalas are a gentle pathway into the Self.

Mandala - Labyrinth

“In this post, we explore how creating mandalas through the Suzanne Fincher model can deepen your art therapy practice and support emotional healing…”

Creating Mandalas for Healing and Self-Discovery

“Each person’s life is like a mandala — a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the centre of our own circle and everything we see, hear, and think forms the mandala of our life.”
— Pema Chödrön

Mandalas — circular designs that symbolise wholeness — have been used across cultures for centuries as tools for meditation, healing, and self-reflection. In art therapy, creating mandalas can help express emotions, explore inner patterns, and bring calm to the mind.

Psychotherapist and art therapist Suzanne Fincher developed a beautiful framework for understanding the stages of personal growth through mandala creation. Her model, inspired by Jungian psychology, sees mandalas as mirrors of the psyche — each one reflecting a phase of our inner journey.

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The Suzanne Fincher Model: The Great Round of Mandala

Fincher’s model, known as The Great Round of Mandala, describes twelve stages that represent different aspects of the human experience — from new beginnings to transformation and integration. These stages aren’t linear; rather, they spiral and repeat as we grow and change.

Here’s a glimpse of some key stages you might recognise in your own creative process:

• Stage One – The Void: A time of stillness or uncertainty. Your mandala might appear as open space, soft colours, or simple shapes. It reflects the fertile emptiness before something new begins.
• Stage Two – Bliss: A feeling of flow, joy, and connection. Mandalas here might include circular or spiralling patterns — representing energy and movement.
• Stage Four – Beginning: Emerging energy, direction, and new structure. Shapes like triangles or paths might appear as we move from potential into form.
• Stage Six – The Dragon Fight: This stage symbolises struggle, self-confrontation, or facing the shadow. Mandalas can be bold or chaotic, expressing inner conflict or transformation.
• Stage Nine – Crystallisation: A time of clarity and integration — the pieces begin to come together. Symmetry and balanced shapes often emerge naturally.
• Stage Twelve – Transcendent Ecstasy: Union, wholeness, peace. These mandalas often radiate harmony — representing connection with self and the greater whole.

This is the Labyrinth Mandala that I did when working through Susanne Fincher's book Creating Mandalas

Each stage offers a snapshot of where we are in our emotional and spiritual growth. By creating mandalas regularly, we can observe shifts in our inner world over time.

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Creating Your Own Healing Mandala

You don’t need to be an artist to create a mandala — only a willingness to explore. Here’s how to begin:

1. Set an intention: Take a moment to breathe and notice how you’re feeling. You might ask yourself, “What part of me needs attention today?”
2. Draw your circle: A simple circle can be traced with a bowl or compass. This boundary becomes your sacred space for expression.
3. Let your intuition lead: Choose colours, shapes, and patterns freely. Allow your hand to move without overthinking — the mandala will unfold naturally.
4. Reflect: When finished, take time to observe. What feelings or thoughts arise? Which stage of Fincher’s model might your mandala represent today?
5. Journal your insights: Write down reflections or messages that surfaced. Over time, your mandalas become a visual journal of your personal evolution.

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Why Mandalas Heal

Creating within a circle brings a sense of safety and containment. It quiets the analytical mind and allows the deeper, intuitive self to speak. Whether you’re navigating change, seeking balance, or simply wanting to reconnect with yourself, mandala art therapy can be a gentle yet profound practice for creative healing and self-discovery.

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Final Reflection

“Making mandalas helps us to bring order to chaos, to see the patterns in our experience, and to come home to ourselves.”
— Suzanne Fincher

Every time you draw a mandala, you’re creating a visual map of your soul’s unfolding — a reminder that even in times of confusion, there is an underlying pattern of wholeness waiting to be revealed.

Keywords: mandala art therapy, art therapy for wellbeing, creative healing, expressive art, self-discovery, Suzanne Fincher, The Great Round of Mandala

understanding a negative emotion

Tree Mandala Mosaic in the pavement outside the Great Northern Hotel Byron Bay

'A clear understanding of a negative emotion dismisses it.' Vernon Howard

Our emotions are the ways that our body gives us information on what we have been thinking. Byron Katie explains our thinking this way... our bodies breathe naturally and by themselves - we don't have to consciously control our breathing by saying to ourselves 'breathe in and breathe out'... and our thinking is very similar. Our brains simply think thoughts, and then the result of thinking a thought ends up in our emotions. Thinking a happy thought results in our body reacting to that thought, thinking a negative thought results in our body reacting to that thought.

To experience this for yourself try the following exercise, take a few moments for each, after you have read the exercise close your eyes and allow yourself to think the thought -

Think of something that makes you happy - now what is the reaction in your body?

Think of somewhere you find relaxing - now what is the reaction in your body?

Think a stressful thought like being in a queue waiting for the cash register in a busy store, and only one person on the till - now what is the reaction in your body?

Your reaction to the stressful thought will depend on how you process the thought, if you think, 'well this person only has one pair of arms, and I can wait peacefully, maybe take time to deep breathe and have a relax before continuing my shopping' you will have a different emotion and reaction in your body, than if you think, 'this is frustrating, this is ridiculous, why doesn't this store put on more staff - they make so much money I am really getting angry' and so you can imagine the difference in the body - the blood pressure is starting to rise, teeth are probably getting clenched, agitation is starting.

Now breathe in and breathe out a few times and let go of that exercise - take time to think of somewhere you love to go in nature, imagine yourself in that space for a while and relax there.


When experiencing a negative emotion, Byron Katie suggests, we ask the mind 'is that true?' and then if the answer is yes to ask again 'is that really true, can I be absolutely sure it is true?' questioning helps the mind to face the negative emotion, understand it, find information from it, and then release it. There are a few more parts to Byron Katie's The Work that helps you to understand the negative thought process.

For more information on Byron Katie's work go to: The Work.com

frustration

The message of frustration is an exciting signal. it means that your brain beleives you could be doing better than you currently are.

Anthony Robbins

commitment to life

“I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret.”
Anthony Robbins

art journalling - you tube video

Bring some fun and colour into your journalling with art, stamps, old newspapers, here's a video from you tube for inspiration...

accept your anxiety and watch it diminish

The following is from an article by by Paul Coleman, Psy.D.
To read the full article go to:
www.stresscenter.com

The Effects of Accepting Anxiety
What if instead you could emotionally accept that you’re feeling anxious? Emotional acceptance does not mean you like it; it means that you will not emotionally oppose the reality of the anxiety you feel in that moment. Using a different example, imagine that you discover your tire is almost flat. You can emotionally accept the situation and arrange to fix it, or you can emotionally oppose the situation (get upset, angry, frantic, and so on) and arrange to fix it. Which is better?

getting even

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. John E. Southard

Remembering Sept 11

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." Paul Boese

at this moment

At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That's wonderful, and I'm happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself?

Phillip C. McGraw

Self respect

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth we have spoken it.

Whitney Griswold