Last night I did a labyrinth walk at my church to bring in the New Year. It is an opportunity for a new spiritual experience through rediscovery of the self. For over 4000 years various cultures and traditions have used the spiral, labyrinth design as a symbol of the search for meaning and guidance. There are no decisions to be made as one walks the labyrinth - by stepping into the entrance and putting one foot in front of the other, the participant comes to the center and after a time, the participant returns out to cover the same path out as in.
There is no "right" or "wrong" way to walk a labyrinth. Aid walkers suggest "quieting the mind and opening the heart". Because you are walking, the mind seems naturally to be quieted. Many describe the experience as a "body walk" wherein they enter the labyrinth, pausing to reflect on the spiritual journey they are embarking on. As I walked around the design I certainly felt aware of letting go of the previous year's weight, my burdens, the heaviness that has been holding me back. Arriving at the center rosette - a place of prayer and meditation - participants let in God's guidance and the divine into their lives. Then when ready, the labyrinth leads them to walk back into their lives, transformed.
These days, none of where I find myself is as I pictured or planned. I'm hazarding a guess the same is true of you in some way, shape or form. My healing and the work of grieving Phil, the trauma of his illnesses, the loss of my marriage, the loss of my children's father, my relocation to CA and the loss of almost the entire life I knew and the person I was have been monumental and is not complete. But in walking out of the labyrinth I am eager and hopeful for what lies ahead, having shed the past and given it to God. So, like walking the labyrinth and putting one foot in front of another, on my spiritual path and in life I will keep putting one foot in front of the other.
You do the same, friends.
Happy New Year 2015!
