I had arranged to start work late that day- I had to take my daughter to an appointment and then drop her off at school a little later than normal. While she was getting ready, I thought I might hop online to see if there were any urgent emails I should respond to. I wish I hadn’t.
Late the night before I had submitted a big report to my Senior Manager for review. I had been working on the report for weeks and just before I submitted it, I had asked a colleague to proof read it for me. She did a good job and had some good advice for me, and then just as I was getting ready to submit it, some late information came through. I made a few edits in the report, sent it to the manager and cc’d the colleague who had reviewed the document really just as a courtesy to see that it had been submitted.
So there, in my inbox, that morning was an email from my colleague to the Senior Manage and I. The email went into great detail about how new content had been added and, heaven forbid, this new content contained two errors! The errors (simple typos) were copied out in the email and highlighted in bold and bright red text. My heart sank. I felt angry, let down, embarrassed and cross. This was unsolicited editing. And the errors weren’t that bad but were made to sound terrible. And it could have been handled so differently, so simply, and not with a pointy email sent to my senior.
I started typing out an angry email, when I glanced up and noticed my beautiful Ambarya fluorite mala beads on my crystal display case. I stopped mashing the keys and picked up the beads. They felt immediately cool to the touch. I wrapped them around my fingers and felt the smoothness of the beads. They felt heavy and strong in my hand.
Without even really consciously doing it, I grasped the bead closets to the velvety purple and green tassel. I rolled the bead in my fingers and shut my eyes. The words “I am calm. I am in control” came into my head. I moved my fingers to the next bead, and said again to myself “I am calm. I am in control.”
I could hear my daughter moving around downstairs, but I kept going. To the third bead I said “I am calm. I am in control,” and then again to the fourth, and fifth. I gave each bead a little caress and then I carried on. I wasn’t particularly counting how many beads I had passed. But certainly after ten or so, I felt my anger disappearing. It just sort of melted away. I shifted my attention to each bead, and the repetition of the words. Pretty soon I entirely believed what I was saying. I was calm.
Mala beads have long been used for meditation and reflective practice. They contain a total of 108 beads, a symbolic number that references the divine. My beautiful Ambarya mala beads are made of fluorite. They came with a lovely card that explains how fluorite brings decisiveness, balance and clarity. Well I certainly found clarity using them that day. By the time I had worked my way back around to the tassel, repeating that morning’s mantra, I felt much clearer and much less irritated.
My beads are rainbow fluorite, but there are mala sets available in several different stones, each which have slightly different healing properties. You can choose from:
- Amethyst
- Black Tourmaline
- Clear Quartz
- Citrine
- Garnet
- Green Aventurine
- Mookaite
- Moss Agate
- Rainbow Fluorite
- Rose Quartz
- Red Jasper
- Tiger Eye
- Lapis Lazuli
- Pyrite
- Hematite
- Smoky Quartz
- Bloodstone
- Rhodonite
- Botswana Agate
- Dalmatian Stone
- Howlite
- Moonstone
- Amazonite
- Sodalite
- Unakite
Mala beads make a great gift for someone prone to upset or anxiety. My experience that day proved to me what a powerful tool they can be for the mind. I wore my beads to work that day, feeling reassured by their presence on my skin.
Ambarya mala beads are made by skilled local artists, from families who have been making beads for centuries. It is as if they have created these beads with the wisdom of the generations that went before. Give a gift of insight, beauty and healing this Christmas with a set of Ambarya mala beads.
About author Tara Nicholson