The Joy of Depression: Co-Blogging with a Fledgling Storyteller

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Co-Blogging with a Fledgling Storyteller

Slowly Blossoming: About a year ago, I attended a retreat for creative artists at Blue Cliff Monastery. There I met a woman with a gentle smile and open eyes. Her name is Mia and she's a teacher, handmade paper artist and fledgling storyteller living in Philadelphia.

I've invited Mia to co-blog with me for this post about gratitude.

Mia: Thank you so much for inviting me to blog with you. I can't believe that it's been almost a year since we met. I am so grateful that we got to meet and get to know each other!

Photo of items used to create a mandala. Pictured are an orange dish, a soup spoon, a chopstick, a bottle of turmeric, a small bowl of baby carrots, and 4 bowls each with a different kind of pills inside. All of these items rest on a small blue tablecloth.

Slowly Blossoming: This is a Gratitude Mandala I made on Sunday, September 8, 2013, when the pain in my arms was about three out of 10 on the pain scale.

Lately I've been feeling thankful for the medications that help me handle depression, chronic pain and fatigue.

Photo of the finished mandala and materials left over from creating it.

Slowly Blossoming: While spooning turmeric onto the blue plate, I give thanks to my acupuncturist who blogs about food as medicine. She suggested that I take a spoonful of turmeric with honey daily. The bright yellow powder is bitter and chalky, so the honey sweetens every spoonful. Sometimes I mix turmeric into my tea instead.

Mia: It is so nice to hear you thinking about the positive, helpful, and healing things and people in your life. It's so amazing that something as simple and small as a spoonful of honey or a plant's root, stem, or flower can have so many healing elements inside.

Closeup photo of the mandala. Six baby carrots radiate from the orange bowl, in which the white pills are arranged in concentric circles on a bed of yellow-orange turmeric.