These five blue and purple mandalas (my own favorite colors) come from Stephanie B. in Ohio who writes that she made them in the colors that she loves. There are two small three-round matching mini-mandalas, one in each color (three shades of purple in one, three shades of blue in the other). Then there are three blue/purple combos in increasingly larger sizes; my favorite is the star-shaped, snowflake-inspired one!
Stephanie writes:
“I have gone through bouts of depression but usually surrounding a loved one’s death, including our cats. There have been the days where things to do get overwhelming and I need to shut off for awhile; that usually helps. My husband and kids are great with me when that happens.
I do recognize depression. Two of my children have anxiety issues, and I’m cautious with them because I know where that can lead. I’m lucky that they have support.
I know Wink was supported as well. I did not know her, but I know of her, and her light and color will be missed! I cannot wait to see photos of this installation.”
You can find Stephanie as Pandastamper on Twitter, Ravelry and Pinterest. I appreciate that Stephanie mentioned grief, which is different from depression but shares some traits and can become major depression, and that she specifically mentioned grief of pet loss, which is a big thing that not a lot of people understand.
I wrote previously about how pets help with depression (when I shared Sharon’s mandala). Today I want to share a true story that I read in the book “The Power of Wagging Tails
The story is about a veteran named Allen G. Parton who retired from the Gulf War with serious injuries that left him disabled and depressed. His wife was training puppies to be service dogs, and Allen would go with her to the training, but he would just sit in his wheelchair in a corner of the room, mostly despondent. One of the dogs, a puppy lab named Endal, took it upon himself to help the veteran. Marcus writes:
“Endal saw something on the floor by my wheelchair, trotted over, picked it up like he’d been trained, and proudly put it in my lap. I didn’t acknowledge, thank, or reward what he’d done – and that hacked him off to no end. Apparently determined to show he was a great worker, Endal found something else and put it in my lap – but I thought I could be more stubborn than him and he still got no reaction from me. Endal kept loading my lap up with anything he could find and, just before I completely disappeared behind a mountain of stuff, I smiled for the very first time in six years.”
Kathryn yes pets do affect us especially when God took my kitties…I was sooo depressed…I still miss them….they each have their own personality you know…people don’t realize too how we get depressed and grieve over our pets who give unconditional love…there is soooo much that people need to know and understand……thank you for doing this……❤️. Fran
I missed this post so I am glad I could find it. thank you for sharing it!