Member-only story
The Path to Awakening
Facing our fears of being “wrong”
I was 55 years old when I got my first tattoo (which was soon followed by 3 more). Divorced, and finding myself living in my home state after 30 years of moving around the US, my life was unfolding in ways that I could never have imagined.
My nephew and I were having a discussion about tattoos, and I was saying how I admired the Native Hawaiians who were proud to display, and found great meaning in, their cultural tattoos.
And so began my own journey of finding my own expression through tattoos that were meaningful to me.
My first tattoo was a dove of peace. My second tattoo was a lotus flower, a Buddhist symbol of awakening. I chose a lotus that was only partly open.
In some Buddhist schools, the flower’s stage of growth represents different stages on the path to enlightenment. A closed bud symbolizes the time before enlightenment, while a fully bloomed lotus represents full enlightenment. Sometimes a flower is partly open, with its center hidden, indicating that enlightenment is beyond ordinary sight. https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-the-lotus/
My partly-open, lotus flower tattoo reminds me every day that one has to dig deep and be willing to cast aside old comforting “truths,” if one is to truly see.
