Emotional & Intuitive
Sacred Geometry for Healing presents a collection of mandalas devoted to the deeply renewing experience of meditation. Why was this an important book for you to write?
The intention of Sacred Geometry for Healing began as the expression of myself as an artist. My goal as an artist was to find my essence, my true nature, and I began to discover myself as a mandala artist. My spirit would move me, and I would create mandalas with the synchronicity of numbers, 4 – 6 – 8 – 12 – 24 (sacred geometry), and so on. As my artwork manifested, I began to hand tool the mandalas in copper. A process known as copper repoussé. Copper is a healer and spiritual conductor. I presented my work in galleries and art shows and co-founded an art gallery collective.
Many, many beautiful mandalas were too intricate to tool in copper as 18 or 24 intricacies in the circle. And that emotionally pained me that they were being left behind. In 2019, when the gallery I was managing was closed temporarily due to the pandemic, the mandalas left behind began to call to me! I realized they were destined to be compiled into a book & Sacred Geometry for Healing: Art on a Mission was born and published!
My mission was to help healing through the observation of art. To create my book to facilitate the practice of deeply viewing and concentrating (meditating) on each of my artworks and their deep collective subconscious and consciously titled meaning. And thus instigating a way for the viewer to receive healing. This was a concept I evolved in sympathy with the tradition that relates mandalas with meditation in different aspects. From 2019 to 2025, a little knock in my solar plexus would keep telling me my book was unfinished. In 2025, after expanding the narrative and republishing my memoir, I had a revelation. Mantras! Mantras were speaking inside me to be written as corresponding healers in synchronicity with the visual and title meanings of each mandala in the original edition. 51 mantras flowed from me next to each mandala, and I knew the entire truth of my artist’s healing mission had come to fruition – Sacred Geometry for Healing: MANTRAS AND MANDALAS FOR MEDITATION.
How do you hope readers engage with the imagery—analytically, emotionally, or intuitively?
My approach to the creation of sacred geometry mandalas was natural, emotional & intuitive. The artworks manifested from me and spoke to me. After I created them, I felt their meaning as if they were communicating to me, and titled each work as I discovered its embodied meaning. They came from a deep connection with nature and creation. I feel the natural connection for the viewer is personal, and I hope each mandala conveys a universally accessible experience, whether by emotion, intuition, or analysis.
Do you see sacred geometry as something rooted in belief, or as something that can be experienced regardless of belief?
I see sacred geometry as something we experience every day naturally in nature, as a seashell or a snowflake. My mandalas, I hope, feel natural and accessible to everyone as nature is to all humanity, regardless of our individuality, beliefs, etcetera.
If a reader takes just one thing from this book, what do you hope it is?
I hope each reader receives something personal, as an artist feels when their art is viewed at an exhibit. I hope they are moved and receive from experiencing my artworks, deep meanings, and personal mantra expressions. And can relate them for themselves in any way they choose.
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Mantras and Mandalas Guide for Meditations – Each mandala in this book has a universal and personal meaning. Each title and aura blue print image embodies the spirit of what has been experienced in the collective consciousness of human experience, connecting to the divine. As god experiences, we experience.
Choose your mandala for the moment by either concentrating and opening the book and finding your spirit guided selection or browse the titles and choose what resonates with your heart at the moment. Remember you are not alone, what you are facing and experiencing from joy to despair has been faced by those who came before you and by those that are here with you now. Focus your meditation on your selected mandala and read the corresponding mantra. You can repeat it out loud during you meditation or remain silent.
“The artworks are resonating as a blueprint of human – god emotions and you
can feel the unseen universal – the sacred geometry blueprint of life experience.”
Bio- Originally upon graduation with a BFA in dance and choreography—I was a member of two contemporary dance companies and a producer for a cable tv station, before I was isolated from the world. Upon my return a decade ago, I am now an accomplished artist in galleries and shows. I am a member of an artists association and am the co-founder of an art gallery collective.
Adria: The Artist.
Unexpected Journey
Descent Into Dementialand is a raw, honest memoir about caregiving, memory loss, and a love that refuses to let go. You describe this as much a love story as a medical journey. How did your understanding of love change as Mike’s condition progressed?
Before Mike began to experience difficulties in communication that I would later learn were signs of progressive dementia, I viewed our love as a romantic, reciprocal partnership. As he gradually lost abilities, the reciprocal part never changed. I always knew and felt that he loved me dearly, and I continued to adore him. It was, of course, the partnership aspect that changed. Always so bright and capable and in control, he now needed me to navigate life and help him enjoy what remained of it. With his innate sunny disposition, he knew full well what awaited him, yet kept me laughing and loving him even more, as we navigated the coming storm together.
The book suggests that both the person with dementia and the caregiver are traveling through the same crisis, but in different ways. What do you wish more people understood about the caregiver’s emotional reality?
Of course, it is extremely gut-wrenching to watch someone with whom you have spent a lifetime gradually losing their identity and capabilities. I was constantly reminded by memories and photos that he was that same person, now struggling to hang on to the remnants of his past life. But for me, it was almost an honor to help him travel that last road. He had given me so much. At this point in time, we had become in many ways one person, fused together. I felt closer to him than I ever had.
You write openly about frustration, exhaustion, and even moments of irritation alongside love. Why was it important to include those less “idealized” emotions?
Because we are human, and those feelings are inescapable. Even though my logical brain told me that Mike was incapable of understanding what I was doing at some point or why I was doing it, that knowledge did not alleviate the frustration and anger I felt in the moment. I think many caregivers are too hard on themselves and feel guilty about normal reactions we all have. We would need to be robots not to feel these emotions.
What do you hope readers who have never experienced dementia take away from your story? For caregivers currently living this reality, what do you hope they feel when reading your book?
For readers who have never been touched by dementia, I hope that they come away with some knowledge about the condition. The odds are great that they will either develop dementia themselves or know someone who has. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease Association, someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds. There are over 55 million people worldwide now living with dementia. That number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050. I also hope that it sparks conversations and awareness. I hope we can shine a light on this condition, often thought of as shameful or just a consequence of aging. I hope it increases charitable donations for finding a cure.
For caregivers who are currently living with this reality, I certainly hope that they, too, gain an understanding of what is happening, why it’s happening, and what to expect as dementia inevitably progresses. I hope that they realize that getting a diagnosis of the particular kind of dementia is critical, as it will open the door to resources for them and their loved one, and that knowing the progression of the particular dementia helps them prepare for what is to come. Most importantly, I hope that they learn to love themselves through this unexpected journey. Their feelings are normal and real, and they are not alone.
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“I love you as much as I ever did. It’s still me inside …”
For almost six decades, Sherry and her husband, Mike, have been by each other’s side. Through success and loss, hope and devastating trauma, they have shared a life of indomitable love and solidarity. Then, in 2018, that life was shattered when Mike was diagnosed with logopenic progressive aphasia, a rare and progressive form of dementia. But the signs had been present for some time. So began Mike’s journey into Dementialand—a terrifying place of no return. As always, Sherry was right by his side.
In this heartbreaking, yet love- and hope-filled memoir, part case study, Sherry candidly shares with the reader their lives both before and after the diagnosis. She theorizes about the root causes of Mike’s disease—still so mysterious to medical professionals—and enlightens the reader with resources providing academic context.
First and foremost, however, this is a warts-and-all journal about the reality of living with the cruel condition … the heartbreaking moments as well as the happy ones. It is a must-read for anyone searching for hope amid the despair. And, above all, proof that, through it all, the one thing Mike has never forgotten is his love for Sherry.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Dementia/Alzheimer’s research.
A Regulation Pathway
The C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. System offers a practical framework to pause, reset, and lead with intention instead of urgency. The seven principles move in a deliberate sequence. How did you determine that order, and how do they build on one another?
The order wasn’t random and it was determined through real-life patterns.
I began to notice that people weren’t struggling because they lacked capability… they were struggling because they were responding out of sequence.
- They were trying to focus before they had clarity.
- They were trying to act before they had regulated.
- They were trying to lead without first listening.
So I built the framework in the order that actually works under pressure:
- Clarity grounds you in truth
- Listen slows you down enough to receive, not react
- Adjust creates flexibility instead of rigidity
- Reset gives you permission to recalibrate instead of spiral
- Integrity aligns your internal and external response
- Focus directs your energy where it actually matters
- Yield teaches you to release control, old habits, old mindsets, and trust the process.
Each step is dependent on the one before it.
You can’t sustainably focus if you haven’t reset.
You can’t operate in integrity if you haven’t adjusted your perspective.
And you can’t yield if you’ve never slowed down enough to listen.
That’s why I say this isn’t just a mindset framework; it’s a regulation pathway.
It teaches you how to move from impulse → to intention… every single time.
How do you distinguish between being busy and being effective?
Busy is movement.
Effective is alignment.
A lot of people are exhausted not because they’re doing too much but because they’re doing too much of what doesn’t actually matter.
Busy looks like:
- Constant urgency
- Reacting to everything
- Saying yes without clarity
- Measuring effort instead of outcomes
Effective looks like:
- Intentional decision-making
- Clear priorities
- Regulated responses
- Alignment between actions and desired outcomes
The key difference is this:
Busy people react to pressure.
Effective people regulate through it.
That’s why in The C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. System™, we don’t start with productivity; we start with awareness and regulation.
Because when you learn how to pause and process before you respond, you stop wasting energy on things that were never yours to carry in the first place.
How do you define integrity in a workplace context?
Integrity in the workplace is alignment between what you say, what you do, and the impact you create.
It’s not just about having good intentions or saying the right things in the moment. It’s about consistently following through, taking ownership, and ensuring that your actions reflect the standards you claim to uphold.
In a real-world work environment, integrity shows up in how you communicate, how you handle pressure, and how you respond when things don’t go as planned. It’s easy to operate in integrity when everything is smooth, but true integrity is revealed when there’s tension, deadlines, or competing priorities.
For me, integrity also means accountability without defensiveness. Being willing to acknowledge gaps, correct course, and move forward with intention.
At its core, workplace integrity builds trust, and trust is what drives collaboration, performance, and long-term success. Without it, even the best strategies fall apart.
So integrity isn’t a soft skill—it’s a strategic advantage.
What is the first shift you hope a reader makes after finishing the book?
The first shift is this:
From reacting automatically or irrationally… to responding intentionally.
Recognize. Regulate. Respond with intention.
That’s it.
Because once that shift happens, everything else changes.
I don’t expect readers to master all seven principles overnight.
But I do want them to pause differently.
To catch themselves in a moment and think:
- “What am I actually responding to right now?”
- “Is this pressure… or is this perception?”
- “Do I need to react or do I need to regulate first?”
That awareness alone is powerful.
Because the moment you interrupt your automatic response… you create space for a better one.
And that’s where true transformation begins.
Not in perfection.
Not in having all the answers.
But in choosing—moment by moment—to respond with intention.
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But the way we respond inside them often is.
Miscommunication, burnout, and reactive decision-making don’t come from a lack of effort, they come from unclear thinking under pressure. In fast-paced environments, productivity suffers not because people aren’t capable, but because clarity, alignment, and intention are lost in the rush to perform.
The C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. System™ is a practical mindset framework designed to help individuals, leaders, and organizations pause, regulate, and respond with intention rather than reaction. Built around seven core principles — Clarity, Listen, Adjust, Reset, Integrity, Focus, and Yield — this system offers a structured approach to navigating complexity, strengthening communication, and restoring trust.
Rather than asking people to work harder, this framework helps teams work clearer and perform stronger. By removing friction, improving decision-making, and addressing the root causes of misalignment, The C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. System supports sustainable performance without sacrificing well-being.
Inside this book, you’ll learn how to:
• Recognize when pressure is driving reactive behavior
• Pause and reset before decisions escalate into dysfunction
• Strengthen communication without blame or defensiveness
• Release outdated habits that quietly undermine performance
• Lead yourself — and others — with clarity, focus, and integrity
Each principle is grounded in real-world application, making this book both reflective and practical. Readers are guided to reassess patterns, shift perspective, and apply the framework immediately in their work and leadership environments.
Designed for professionals across industries, The C.L.A.R.I.F.Y. System™ serves as a resource for:
• Leaders navigating complexity and change
• Teams seeking alignment and healthier dynamics
• Individuals ready to respond with intention instead of reaction
This is not a quick fix.
It’s a mindset shift — one that turns pressure into precision, and effort into meaningful progress.
The Most Powerful Force
Different Values presents a series of reflections on what the pandemic, climate strain, gun violence, and the Israel-Gaza conflict reveal about what we choose to value. Why was this an important book for you to write?
During COVID, when we were “isolating at home,” several issues shifted to center stage in people’s thinking–such as their dissatisfaction with work and stay-at-home parents’ realization that children do not learn better with screens.
I thought what had shifted center stage was a way to connect changes we hoped would lead us out of the suffering caused by the pandemic into a “new normal.”
The book spans pandemic life, political division, climate strain, and war—when did you realize these threads belonged in one narrative?
I’m not sure they do, other than the reason given above–how we might make a society emerging from the pandemic a better “new normal.” In that regard, there is an attempt to realize our best efforts along the way, but that “thread” was really strained by political divisions, then the Israel-Hamas war, and the United States’ failure to uphold the United Nations.
Another “thread” that I see is informed by my teaching experience, i.e., a lack of critical thinking in making decisions–such as listening first and not stereotyping/profiling, and providing evidence for claims made—-despite that being what we teach our college students to do.
The imagery of natural forces—like volcanic eruptions—adds a sense of humility to the book. What role does nature play in your moral framework?
Nature makes us aware that humanity is not the most powerful force in the universe! We strive to subdue it, but it rebounds, making us keenly aware of our smallness and thus the humility that is critically needed to counter hubris. Indigenous people and many farmers who work the soil seem to grasp this intuitively, whereas industrialites-and now technocrats-often interpret its power as challenges in need of conquest.
Are you planning to continue exploring these themes in future projects?
I’m not sure yet. They are certainly still with us, but perhaps rather than writing about them, we need more political motivation? I thought of a new title, Death by Propaganda Goes Viral. The problem is, Orwell and others have already alerted us to these dangers. It seems humans have to exercise their freedom, i.e., to choose to change from within, and that’s hard work!
Author Links: GoodReads | Kayelksong.com | Amazon
The mc : THE MEDITATIVE CONTEMPLATIONZ
The Meditative ContemplationZ feels less like a conventional book than a staged interior performance, a gathering of aphorisms, prose-poems, meditations, and lyrical monologues arranged around spirituality, adversity, love, wisdom, death, Blackness, and legacy. What held me all the way through was the sense that zO-AlonzO Gross isn’t trying to build a neat argument so much as a lived atmosphere. He moves from compressed lines like “time leaveZ stretch marks” to longer pieces that open into memory, social critique, and testimony, as in the barber shop vignette “They call me speak easy,” with its grief over gentrification and lost Black community, or the recurring insistence that art, suffering, faith, and self-knowledge are bound together. The book’s visual dimension matters too. The paintings and photographs don’t feel ornamental. They reinforce the sense that this is a collaborative, almost theatrical object, one that wants to be seen as much as read.
Gross writes with a seriousness that can be hard to pull off, and here it works because the conviction is real. When he says the artist has to love the work past indifference, bad turnout, family doubt, and years of invisible labor, I believed him. The same goes for the passage comparing fighters and artists, where the body blows of one life meet the psychic blows of the other. That idea could’ve landed as a slogan in weaker hands, but here it has bruises on it. I also liked how often the book risks tenderness without getting soft. A line about love arriving as “a cold bottle of water next to her bed at 3 am” is so simple, so unshowy, and because of that it lingers. Even the spiritual passages, which lean grand and incantatory, have a searching quality rather than a smug one. The book keeps returning to the thought that to know God, or truth, or purpose, you have to strip away performance and get closer to the self beneath it.
This is a book whose force comes with rough edges, and I mean that as praise. The diction can be florid, the capitalization and stylization relentless, and some pieces hit with more depth than others. There were moments when the aphoristic mode flattened complexity into a pronouncement. But even then, the voice felt urgent, personal, and proudly self-fashioned. The sections on Blackness especially gave the book another register, sharper and more satirical, turning wit toward racism, stereotype, and the humiliating absurdities of public life. Those pieces widened the book’s emotional field. They reminded me that Gross is not only meditating in private but answering the world, sometimes with sorrow, sometimes with laughter, sometimes with a line sharpened like a blade. The artwork and photographs throughout fit the pieces beautifully, and they add a thoughtful, provocative visual layer that deepens the book’s reflective mood.
I found The Meditative ContemplationZ uneven in the way many deeply personal books are, but also vivid, memorable, and unmistakably alive. I came away feeling I’d spent time inside a singular mind, one that believes art should console, provoke, testify, and leave a mark. I’d recommend it most to readers who like poetry-inflected nonfiction, spoken-word energy on the page, and books that care more about voice, spirit, and emotional truth than formal restraint. It’s a book for people who don’t mind a little intensity if the feeling behind it is earned, and here, more often than not, it is.
Pages: 140 | ISBN : 978-1088058848
ILLEGITIMATE: A Daughter’s Search for Truth in the Shadow of Lebensborn
Illegitimate is a memoir about Maddie Lock’s search for her biological father and her family’s buried ties to the Lebensborn program in Nazi Germany. What starts as one shocking family confession turns into a long, personal hunt for truth, identity, and some kind of peace. Lock moves between childhood memory, family research, wartime history, and late-life discovery as she pieces together how silence, shame, and war shaped several generations of her family. This is a book about wanting to know where you come from, and what that knowledge can cost.
I found the writing vivid and deeply felt. Lock has a gift for small details that stick in the mind. A garden, a window, a stairwell, a face, a silence at the table. Those moments give the memoir real heart. The book takes its time in certain passages. Readers will appreciate that because it lets the emotional weight really sink in and keeps readers engaged. What hit me hardest was the way she writes about being a child who feels unwanted and unclaimed. That ache feels real. It’s not dressed up or forced. It just sits there and hurts, and that honesty gave the book a lot of power for me.
What I admired most was the book’s moral seriousness. Lock does not chase family truth for drama. She chases it because not knowing has shaped her whole life. I liked that the memoir does not flatten people into heroes or villains. Her mother, grandmother, father, and aunt all come through as messy, wounded, limited human beings. That made the book stronger and sadder. I also think the book handles its big ideas well. It asks hard questions about shame, belonging, inheritance, and whether truth heals or just rips old wounds back open. For me, the answer here is both. That tension gives the memoir its bite. It made me feel angry, tender, and reflective all at once.
I would recommend Illegitimate to readers who like memoirs that mix personal history with larger historical fallout, especially books about family secrets, postwar identity, and the long shadow of trauma. I would also hand it to anyone who has ever felt cut off from their own story. I came away moved, unsettled, and grateful that Lock wrote it. This isn’t a light read, but it’s a worthwhile one.
Pages: 269 | ASIN : B0G5PD7LX8
Sacred Geometry for Healing: MANTRAS AND MANDALAS FOR MEDITATION
The concept of the mandala has appeared across cultures for centuries, carrying with it a long tradition of symbolism, reflection, and spiritual focus. Mandalas are intricate works of art, rich in detail and visual harmony. More than decorative images, they are designed to evoke expansive, universal ideas and invite contemplation. To study a mandala is to enter a quieter mental space, one where negative thoughts recede and more restorative, life-affirming ones can take root.
When meditation joins with sustained focus on a mandala, the effect can feel deeply renewing. Add the repetition of a simple mantra, and the practice becomes even more centering. Together, these elements create room for reflection, sharpen concentration, and help restore a sense of inner balance. They encourage the mind to return to what matters most.
In Sacred Geometry for Healing: Mantras and Mandalas for Meditation, Adria Chalfin presents a nonfiction collection devoted to that very experience. The book features a series of mandalas, each paired with an explanation of its intended purpose and a short mantra for meditation. The format is accessible. The effect is immersive.
The appeal of the mandala lies in its elegant simplicity, even as the artwork itself remains highly intricate. Each design reflects the idea of sacred or universal geometry, the belief that certain shapes carry a transcendent quality. These forms are not merely beautiful. They are meant to focus attention, deepen awareness, and awaken a sense of connection that feels larger than the self.
Chalfin’s collection draws on this tradition with care and intention. Her mandalas represent themes such as aura, nature, holy light, and more. Some carry clear Christian associations. Others feel open-ended and nondenominational, making the book accessible to readers from a range of spiritual backgrounds.
Skeptics may not accept the healing power often attributed to mandalas or mantras, yet that does not diminish the book’s value. Belief is not the only point. The real benefit may lie in the practice itself: choosing an image that resonates, sitting with it, breathing deeply, and allowing the mind to settle. In that stillness, readers may find clarity, calm, and a renewed sense of energy.
That may be this book’s greatest strength. In a culture dominated by technology, immediacy, and material distraction, the act of stepping away becomes more than refreshing; it becomes necessary. Sacred Geometry for Healing offers a simple means of doing exactly that. It provides a space for pause, for inward listening, and for temporary escape from the noise. For readers seeking a meditative aid or a gentle spiritual reset, Chalfin’s book offers both beauty and purpose.
Pages: 114 | ASIN : B086Q7T2PB
Formative Experiences
Actually Invisible centers around a gay high school teacher struggling with grief, marriage, and infertility as she faces public scrutiny following homophobic remarks from a student. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
The idea for this novel came from many of my lived experiences as a human, but particularly as a queer public school teacher. We make headlines, but our fears and daily lives are so rarely described anywhere. I wrote the book I had always wanted to read.
The novel moves between past and present in a way that lets memory actively shape the story. How did you structure that timeline?
I structured the timeline by thinking about what kinds of formative experiences could have informed Josie’s present mindset. This took quite a bit of outlining, but I wanted to make sure I highlighted that she is—as we all are—a culmination of every experience we’ve ever had. I think it also humanizes her even more for the reader.
How did you approach the school storyline and the dynamics of public scrutiny?
I took some stories I had heard about in the news and on social media and essentially combined them with the fears that sometimes kept me up at night.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from Actually Invisible?
I hope readers take away the idea that all anyone wants is to feel seen, understood, and valued. We are all on this Earth searching for those things. Queer teachers are in a unique, complicated position where that experience can be dangerous, but it’s also worthwhile to take the risk, not only for ourselves and our mental health but also for representation for our students—queer and otherwise.
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…until a student comes out to her in a writing assignment, and she is thrust into a small-town spotlight. As the target of the student’s angry parents and a slew of anonymous threats, Josie must decide if it’s finally time to speak up for herself and risk her job, her family, and her ambivalence.
