Tornado's and Labyrinths

(a rare look into my world) (This one is dedicated to Mary so she won't feel so all alone in her group experience) (We don't have to hug Mary! )

The above picture is a pictue of me!  (or at least how I felt on Saturday)

As I eluded to in previous posts, life has been busy for me and it has been difficult, at best, to keep up with posting regularly.  Busy in a good way, but, busy none the less.

Our area was hit with tornado's yesterday.  I live on Long Island in NY so it is very odd.  I didn't see one, but many of my friends did.  We were very fortunate as there was no property damage to anyone's home that we are aware of, however the trees in our area did take quite a hit and power has been out for quite a few people. 

On Saturday I spent the day on retreat.  I belong to the Long Island Coaching Alliance which is the local chapter of the International Coaches Federation, to which I also belong.  Once a year, each June, we gather as a group for spiritual renewal.  Last year it was at my house!  Which was great as I consider my home to be on unusually sacred ground, but I digress.  This year it was held at The Little Portion Friary and the topic was "How Do You Walk Upon This Earth".  The Highlight of the day was walking the labyrinth.

The day went really well.  It was quite beautiful.  It would have been even better if I could have ridden my motorcycle there as the roads were just perfect for it, but I am not quite ready for that just yet.  I did take the convertible so it made me feel somewhat better.   (I digress again)  At the end of the day everyone shared their individual thoughts and spiritual experiences inside the labyrinth.  They were all very profound.  Everyone seemed to be touched emotionally and spiritually.  I however, had a very different experience. 

The retreat was lead by two wonderful women, Kay and Jeannine.  Jeannine being my coach and an amazing women, led the labyrinth introduction.  She was disappointed because she had to leave early and was going to miss the sharing part of the day, which she was most interested in.  (She had to leave to go to a wedding.  Fools! oops, digressing again)  We all promised to e-mail her what we shared when she was gone. 

Now I facilitate a lot of group experiences.  I am really very good at this.  I really enjoy it very much.  I am however not very gifted at being a participant.  It is quite challenging for me to "share" without at least one glass of wine in me, aka truth serum. (It can be done, but it isn't that easy or comfortable, and I am digressing yet again)

So, we get our brief introduction into the Labyrinth experience.  The short version is you are to ask a question before you walk in and the answer is supposed to come to you while you are walking.  Click here for the Long Version if you are interested.

So, everyone shared their deeply spiritual and moving experience, and then it was my turn, well I was number 7 out of 16. 

Here is the Labyrinth we walked:

Here is my experience in side the labyrinth:

I couldn't think of a question when I went into the labyrinth so I just figured that the labyrinth would provide a question, or an answer I needed.  When I got to the labyrinth I was a  bit off kilter because I was expecting high hedges. No hedges, just grass and wood chips.  But, into it I walked.  As I started walking I thought "hmmmm if everyone would just pick one or two weeds as they were walking this would be a very nicely manicured labyrinth. I thought to mention it, but remembered we weren't allowed to talk.  Then I got a kick out of Paul (another coach) and how he was walking.  As I got further in it seemed like a chore.  Like something I had to complete.  I wanted to break out of the lines and go smell the flowers and check out the garden and walk around the property and explore. There was a pretty bench I wanted to sit on and write.  This feeling didn't leave until I got out of the labyrinth.  Then I realized that I was tripping a bit and thought "If I fall I will really screw up everyone's nice spiritual day". Then Jeannine quietly blessed me. "God, she must REALLY know I need it it" I thought to myself.  On the way back out of the labyrinth,  the mushrooms caught my eye again and I thought touching them would be a nice distraction.  Then Paul stole my idea.  I didn't want to pet the mushrooms then because I didn't want to look like a copycat, but I did it anyway.  This brought me back to my bartending days and I thought "A mushroom walks into a bar and orders a beer.  The bartender said "we don't serve mushrooms here!"  The mushroom answered, "Why not?  I'm a FUNGI!"  Then I just focused on completing my task and moving on, (and pouring a glass or wine or making a nice crisp Cosmopolitan digressing again) noticing that some of the wood chips looked curiously like bones.  Finally I came to the end of the walk and felt free.  I enjoyed the bees and the dragonflies and flowers on my walk.  The Gregorian chant and noon didn't suck either!  I stayed late after everyone left and re walked the maze in hopes of having the wonderful enlightening experience that everyone else had, but alas, I walked away empty handed with the exception of having a staring match with a very pretty black cat.  The cat won.

All in all, I seemed to be comic relief for the group.  Everyone was hysterical and Paul said I shouldn't have eaten the mushrooms.  Now as I have said many times before, I would never ask a client to do anything I wouldn't do, so I do have my very own life coach, who I was lucky enough to have run the retreat.  I shared this with her and here was her feed back.

Think of where you are in your life right now, and your walk in the labyrinth doesn't surprise me at all.  You were literally putting one foot in front of the other staying in the moment and noticing exactly what was in front of you.  That is being fully alive, Rosemary.

I expected you to walk across the circles and sit down at some point, it must have been a drag to literally drag your leg around.................you show such perseverance and patience with yourself, please acknowledge that.  It isn't always a "high" moment when walking the labyrinth.  Sometimes it can be that seemingly "nothing" happens, yet even then something subtle is taking place. Generally what happens is the universe gives you exactly what you need ......... at that moment.  You NOTICED the moments in front of you and you "focused on completing the task in front of you." courage!

 

I was pretty impressed with her interpretation.