Here is the next of the beautiful, inspiring, special contributions coming in to the #MandalasForMarinke remembrance project. I am grateful for each and every amazing contribution. You are invited to join; learn more here.
Beautiful Crochet Mandala
What a gorgeous crochet mandala. It looks like a flower from a magical land!
Meet the Maker
This beautiful crochet mandala comes from Sheila of Sewchet. Find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Folksy. She explains what she makes:
“Beautiful, bespoke accessories for you and your home, handmade in England. Traditional skills, such as sewing and crochet, are given a contemporary update.”
She writes for this project:
Dear Wink,
Your “Creative Being” will be truly missed in the blogging community. May you now find the peace that evaded you in life.
Words by Wink
In August 2013, Wink posted an open letter about a pattern copyright issue and bad treatment from a company. I believe that post was eventually taken down. She later posted about how:
“Reactions started pouring in. Most of them were very positive towards me, which I really, really appreciate! Some comments were a little more sceptic; and then there were people who were just plain rude. Not to mention the bashing that happened on a couple of online forums. That really shook me, reading all those negative comments. It’s very hard to remain positive about yourself when it seems like the entire internet is out to get you.”
I share this because I want to remind people of how important it is to be kind to others on the Internet in the same way that you would in person. I was reminded of this again last month when a woman who crocheted her own wedding dress was bashed online by people who ignored her beauty and creativity and made comments about her weight. I posted this to my Facebook page and many, many people responded with concern about this type of negativity. Someone there wrote “it’s not that hard to be nice or quiet” and I really think it’s important to take that to heart. It’s okay to disagree with someone online but it’s not okay to be mean.
About Depression
One purpose of this project is to raise awareness about depression so each post will end with some facts, thoughts or quotes about depression, suicide and/or mental health.
Bullying that happens in childhood has found to have a strong correlation with depression in adulthood. One study showed, for example, that children bullied at age 13 were almost three times as likely to be depressed at age 18 as those who weren’t bullied; the more frequent the bullying, the more likely the depression. Another study found that bullied children were more likely to have anxiety issues ten years later than those who weren’t bullied. And something else that was interesting from that study – those who were bullied and also bullied others had an increased risk of both depression and suicide.
NoBullying.com writes:
“According to depression and suicide, the relationship between bullying depression and suicide is not limited to face to face bullying. This is because nowadays, many teens suffer because of cyber bullying. The internet has made it much easier for people to communicate with each other but it has also opened a Pandora’s Box. Many people connect with each other through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, this has made people more susceptible to cyber bullying. The worst thing about cyber bullying is the fact that the bully may not even be known to the person. This is because some bullies will use a false account to harass others. This makes it easier for the bully to be relentless and more threatening because they are not known to the victim.”
All contributions to Mandalas for Marinke are welcome and will help raise awareness about depression while honoring her work in the same way that this great contribution has done today. Details to join here.