Mandalas, Sisterhood and the Power of Letting Go
On the 29th of August, I thought I was heading into a Let Art Be Your Becoming (aka LABYB, the non-for-profit arm of Amja Unabashedly) meeting with co-founders Tamika and Carmela. What I walked into instead was a surprise belated birthday celebration.
I had been driving for a few hours on my commute back into London, after a great creative session with on the the wonderful people I support in my role as a specialist support companion, for those with complex needs and acquired brain injuries, so I hadn’t noticed the bunting or white and gold balloons in the hallway as I entered.
Tamika’s culinary skills were in full effect as was Carmella’s aka Bella Bells’ comedic story telling, and as we dined I was asked a powerful question: “What do you want to see for yourself going forward?”
My answer was clear: To acknowledge the past without being defined by it, and to choose joy and creativity as my direction. Accepting the roots of the Antonia and Amja Unabashedly story carry survival, but the branches grow toward leadership, transformation, and becoming.
Basking in the sisterhood, joy, and reflection is a moment that I’ll carry with me for a long time.
The Mandala Ritual
Together, we created mandalas, intricate, temporary artworks built with flowers. some of which had been gifted for my birthday. Each of us placed the petals with care, shaping something delicate and beautiful. Although our mandala designs were different our sisterhood solidarity and placement of leaf-pathways created the connections. And then, we brushed the mandalas away.
This act of creation and release became a living metaphor for my own journey. All the work I have done as survivor-led has been beautiful, powerful, and necessary. It has shaped me and supported others. But like the mandala, it does not need to remain fixed. It can be repurposed, reimagined, transformed.
Transformation, Not Just For Survival
Survival had been the foundation. But as I step into my 50th year, I realise my path is not simply about being survivor-led anymore. It is about transformation, leadership, and becoming.
My SSCS™ (Self-Soothing Creative Steps) Framework- Support, Self-Love, Spirituality, Security, has guided me here. It’s shown me that self-love is the precursor to our greatest love: the joy and courage that carry us from survival to thriving. That our greatest defence is the warrior within, not in resisting the world but in being grounded enough to face it. And that the present moment, the now, is the true gift we carry.
The Power of Sisterhood
What made this moment possible was not just the ritual, but the love and vision of my sisters. Tamika and Carmela reminded me of the importance of friendship in transformation. Their gesture was more than a birthday surprise; it was a mirror reflecting back the joy, creativity, and leadership that I’m stepping into.
Becoming: A New Direction
As I let go of being defined by trauma, I embrace the truth that my art, my words, and my leadership are here to create transformation, not just for me, but for others. I will always honour the survivor story, but I no longer lead with it. I lead with becoming, with creativity, with joy.
The mandala was a symbol of that shift: a reminder that beauty can exist, and then be released, to make space for something even greater.
The exciting part of my becoming is the potential of nothingness is so great; one moment there was nothing as in the sweeping away of the mandala fresh flower art and then the blank metaphorical canvas is there to give myself permission to create the life I want to live and love, and is also a gentle reminder to myself and others: Be creatively courageous, or courageously creative and Let art be your becoming.
So, as I walk forward into this new chapter, I carry with me the power of sisterhood, the strength of creativity, and the courage to let go. Because becoming is not a one-time act. It is a continuum, a journey with spirals, ups, downs, and breakthroughs. If
Whether this is the first time you are reading Amja’s Journal or you are a seasoned reader, I’d love to hear from you, what do you need to let go of to step more fully into your own becoming? Please share in the comments below.
And if you’d like a simple tool to help, you can download my free SSCS™ One-Pager, a guide to Support, Self-Love, Spirituality, and Security.
To help with letting go!
Love and Light, Infinitely
Amja