You are driving in an unfamiliar area, and you see a “road closed” sign on the very street down which your GPS is urging you to turn. You continue straight, hoping there will be an adjacent street which will get you back to your prescribed route, but the neighborhood is unfamiliar, and perhaps seems menacing. You urge yourself not to panic, eventually you will get back on track…
You’ve been unemployed for almost a month, and your last three interviews didn’t go well. You are beginning to question the career plan you had in place, about which you had been so confident only a year ago. You begin doubting every decision you’ve ever made, allowing your thoughts to wander to the “what if zone”, completely counterproductive…
It’s been awhile since you felt truly connected to your partner. Communication isn’t flowing like it used to, and you have to really stretch your memory to recall a time when the two of you truly felt happy together. You’re not sure how to bridge the divide, or even whether it is worth the effort any more…
You’re sitting down to take an exam, but the questions on the paper bear no relation to the material that you so diligently studied the night before. And it isn’t multiple choice…
image by Hans Splinter
used under Creative Commons license
I do not believe that there is any person on this planet over the age of nine that has not felt lost at one time or another in their life, even if only briefly. However, when we are able to step back, get back in touch with our center, and listen to our own heart, often we are afforded a new perspective on our situation. We can see with clarity the direction we must take, to be headed back in our right direction. But in order to do so, it is essential that we find the space to breathe and release the growing negativity that feeling lost fosters.
This is one of the many benefits of engaging in the labyrinth walk as a spiritual practice. In the Labyrinth, although the route is circuitous, the path ahead is always clear. While “getting there” consists of wandering and wondering, there is, at the core, the knowledge that you will eventually arrive if you remain on the path. Walking the labyrinth gives us the opportunity to feel lost – and to embrace the experience of finding our way – without feeling the discomfort and anxiety that almost universally comes with actually being lost. It allows you to experience the peace that comes with finding yourself, again.
~ Christiana
