Pressure
Melody Beattie states “Remember, it takes heat and pressure to turn carbon into diamonds. The pressure of challenges is what shapes and forms us”. Whatever challenges we’re facing right now, they give us the opportunity to see what we’re made of. We can either succumb to them or rise above them. It’s our “why” (the diamond) that helps keep us moving forward.
I think of the one (and only) time I ran a marathon. My neighbor and I trained for 9 months, running 5-6 days a week. Every Sunday we ran our longest distance, upping the length each week. Granted running the actually marathon challenged me greatly. However the 9 months of running almost every single day proved to be the bigger challenge…and without it, I would never have been able to cross the marathon’s finish line with a smile on my face.
That marathon proved to me that I had what it takes to stick to a goal so that as newer and/or bigger challenges come my way, I know that with a solid “why”, I can handle the pressure. I may not like it, but I can handle it because a “diamond” will be waiting for me it in the end.
How about you? How do you handle the pressure of the challenges you face? Do you have a solid “why” (a finish line, the diamond) to keep you moving forward?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
🏵️ Creating Mandalas — Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 