I recently got a new tattoo (it’s actually two in one – so technically TWO new tattoos). It’s a purple lotus blossom and a purple butterfly just above it (see picture). People are always asking me what it represents, so I thought I’d post here and explain in detail why I chose this particular design.
I sent a picture of an idea to Skin Design Tattoo here in Las Vegas on Spring Mountain Road. We made an appointment and I met with the artist to discuss the design. Two and a half hours later, this is what he came up with. After sitting in the chair for 6 hours while he inked it, I meditated and did my square breathing (4 seconds in; hold 4 seconds; release 4 seconds; hold again 4 seconds and repeat). I didn’t flinch and I didn’t move once while he was inking it. I don’t know if it was the meditation breath or the fact I knew this was the tattoo I had been waiting for all these years (it had been 13 years since my last tattoo).
When my mom was alive, she loved butterflies. Obsessively loved them to the point she had earrings, necklaces, pins, rings, etc. of butterflies. So I knew I was going to get a tattoo with a butterfly of some kind in there, to honor my mom and her love of all things butterflies. The butterfly also represents (to me) growth and change and being able to persevere.
I joined Gambler’s Anonymous in July of 2001. I feel like I was stuck in the mud and the muck of life and of my repeated poor choices while I was practicing my disease. The lotus flower represents blooming out of that mud and muck and into the sunshine of my recovery. I found this explanation of what a lot of people think of when they consider the lotus flower and its meaning. “In general, the lotus flower is mainly considered as a symbol of rebirth since it rises from darkness and turns into a beautiful flower with pink and white petals much like a human being born from nothing and turning into something complete and beautiful. This process of coming into existence is also considered as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment and the expansion of one’s soul.” I found this explanation on a website called Mythologian dot net.
The butterfly represents and honors my mother and the lotus represents and honors my life in recovery and how each evolution of my life blooms out of the mud and into the sunshine.
Until next time…