Connecting the World One Bead at a Time

I recently contributed a bead to the community mala project —

108 Beads. 1 Mala. Connecting the world.

We are creating a set of community mala beads. One bead from each person – people of all walks of life and from all around the world.

Here is a touching entry from Heidi Howes on why she contributed a skull bead.

If you would like to contribute a bead and your story please contact us at info@lovetinydevotions.com 

Namaste xx

The reason I have chosen the skull bead is because I developed a particular fascination with the skull’s meaning and spent a year meditating on this symbol after a near-death experience in childbirth.

Despite pop culture’s use of the skull, I have come to regard it as a gateway to enlightenment.  I wore a wooden skull mala on my wrist during the year I meditated on this symbol and one morning as I played with my toddler on the wood floor, sun streaming in through the window, I glanced down at the mala and chills ran through my body.  I teared up thinking of my daughter and this precious moment, the impermanent yet perfect moment.

The meditation on impermanence reminds us to be wholly in the moment, to notice the sunshine and the ever changing beauty of this world.  Also, and sometimes more importantly, this symbol reminds us in times of darkness to be aware that “this too shall pass.”  In pain and suffering, we need to remember that it is not permanent and that relief will come again.  We can breathe through it and know that it will soon be over.

After the year was finished, I decided to tattoo the mala on my wrist as a constant reminder.  I have to chuckle every time I see a black t-shirt with a skull and crossbones on it, because it inevitably brings me right back to the moment, grateful and alive.