YOUR LFIE A-Z:JOURNEY

ENJOY THE STEPS ALONG THE WAY

JOURNEY

I am sure you have heard of the saying life is a JOURNEY, not a destination.  If you approach life as a Journey what is your gain?   Perhaps, the first positive gain is that you slow down. If you slowed down, maybe you would take the time to plant an herb in your kitchen window and nurture it toward wholeness?  If you treated life like a JOURNEY then there would be time to watch plants grow.  By treating life as a JOURNEY there would be time to write in your journal and you could record the blessings of today.  Perhaps a trip to the botanical gardens in your city where you would enjoy the beauty of life all around you would be a joyful thing to do on your JOURNEY.

 If you are on a JOURNEY such as a hero’s JOURNEY, then there is a reason to JOURNEY, a purpose.  The purpose of the hero’s JOURNEY is to get the golden ring or the blessed challis of life.   The hero’s JOURNEY requires you to overcome some obstacles along the way in order for you to appreciate your gain at the end.  However, the hero’s JOURNEY does not end with the challis or the ring, the hero returns from his/her JOURNEY with something for the people.  Any way you look at it life is difficult from time to time, how you view that difficulty will make the difference as to whether you are a hero or a victim.  JOURNEY for the sake of the JOURNEY.  JORNEY for pleasure. JOURNEY to enjoy all that is around you.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUESTION

QUESTION

Yes, question everything. Rilke the poet wrote,  "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the question themselves.  Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."  Thus to question is to be alive.

Do not fret about the answers but enjoy the journey of discovery.  Questions about life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are meaningful questions. By asking the questions we become more alert, aware, and alive.  The answers are constantly changing.  Once upon a time we thought the earth was flat.  That in and of itself is so hard to imagine in today's rapid world of knowledge andtechnology but it is true. Even though the ancient Egyptians had diagrams of the earth being round, the undereducated folks still thought the Earth to be flat when Christopher Columbus set sail for India.  His believed measurements of the earth were so small, that if he had not discovered the Americas in between his journey,he and his crew would have starved.  Question, explore, discover and enjoy living into whatever answers may come your way.  If no answers come, the risk of taking the journey is well worth the effort because the experiences along the way make the possibilities meaningful.

The Labyrinth and the Yellow Brick Road

On Saturday January 7t, a small group of seekers set out on their own journey down the yellow brick road. In the beginning, we explored the Walking a Sacred Path DVD by Lauren Artress. The DVD shared stories of three people who used the Labyrinth to find the courage to make a career change, to find career direction, and to find physical healing from a stroke. These three people mirrored the characters of the Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and the Lion in the story of the Wizard of OZ. The Labyrinth is a tool of transformation that allows the mind to settle while the body focuses on walking, placing one foot in front of the other. The gentle focus of movement allows the body to let go of anxiety, worries, and fear and as the journeyer focuses on walking, a mindfulness takes place that the walker does not have to strive for, mindfulness just happens. The brain relaxes and the journeyer is able to experience being in the present.


Walking the Labyrinth mirrors the Yellow brick road in so many ways. On Saturday, we explored how our inadequacies, hurts, and fears that keep us immobilized not allowing our heart’s desire to be attained. When we are busy wrestling with our inadequacies, hurts, and fears rather than becoming their friend, listening to their needs and giving them what they need then our lives are full of chaos and anguish. As Dorothy walks the Yellow Brick Road in search to find the magical wizard that will take her home again, she discovers fellow journeyers who also have needs. They travel together and in their travels, magic happens. The Scarecrow ends up being the smartest of them all, giving direction, working a travel plan and overcoming obstacles. The Tin Man is full of empathy and cries easily at other’s pain. The Lion is the one that is most fear-less taking on the witch and climbing up the wall to the rescue Toto. All along, each journeyer had what they needed inside; they just needed to come to realize it. But, like most humans, these characters still could not see what was inside until the make believe wizard gave them symbols of their inner strengths. It is human to need re-assurance that we are smart, loved, and courageous. Replicating the walk down the Yellow Brick Road can be done by walking the Labyrinth. On Saturday, the journeyer’s placed their inadequacies, hurts, and fear in baskets along the way and when they arrived into the center there was a red stone symbolizing the red shoes Dorothy was wearing. Just by clicking the shoes three times, she was able to go home to Kansas, without the Wizard’s hot-air balloon.

Come travel with me on Labyrinth Mondays as I continue to explore how the Labyrinth is a tool in your daily life. Follow me on www.drdilley.blogspot.com or www.facebook.inamomentsnotice.com