Spread your wings and fly

I haven’t had the space to draw the last few months as I was physically healing my body after a melanoma diagnosis in November. Since then, it’s been in and out of hospital, surgeries, and trying to find a normal life after all of this.

Some days it’s an uphill battle because I’d like nothing more than to sit and draw, but I have so little inspiration and when I am inspired, I truly don’t have the energy capacity to channel a mandala.

I’m learning that things take time, and that sometimes you have to make time.

Making time to spread your wings and fly

While this mandala was not planned. I only wanted to draw, no obligations or fuss.

Now that it’s finished, I’d say that it is completely inspired by the birds I see on my daily walks.

I don’t take my phone with me on walks so you’re going to have to imagine my bird companions:

• The tiny little ones that chirp back to me when I talk to them.
• The heron that sits on the rocks from time to time. Quiet and observant.
• The seagulls that sometimes sit on the lamp posts and I swear laugh at me like giggling teenagers. I always politely ask them not to poop on me as I walk past, and that apparently is the joke of the century for them.
• Finally, the 2 pairs of hadedas I’ve come to know, always on opposite sides of the path, having their breakfasts and minding their own business.

These birds have become like friends to me these past few months. A lot of the time it’s just me and them on the road and now that the weather is cooling, much fewer people are out.

Lessons from the Birds

Birds bring us a beautiful reminder: spread your wings and fly, just do it (whatever it is).

Fly when you’re scared, when the odds are stacked against you, when you don’t know how you’re going to make it to your destination. Fly.

No fuss, no frills, a simple message and I hope you can feel it through the mandala.