a short long journey

I’d walked labyrinths and mazes, always appreciatively, but it wasn’t until I was 27 that I received specific instruction. “Before you enter, name the question that is on your mind and heart. Walk slowly and carefully to the center of the labyrinth. Sit there. Take whatever time you need. Then walk slowly and carefully out of the labyrinth. You will return to the place where you entered with an answer.”

I’m quite a fast walker. I could zip through a labyrinth in a few minutes if I attempted to do so. But fast walking is for exercise or for reaching a geographic destination. Labyrinth walking is for changing perspective. It’s for pondering. It’s for welcoming the possibility of an epiphany or clear inner guidance. It’s for returning to the place you started with a willingness to be changed.

Perhaps just the physical presence (or image!) of any labyrinth, whether walked carefully or not, serves as a reminder that a new perspective is always available. The new perspective reminder in the photo is in Jackson, Wyoming.

What question would you ask if you were to step into a labyrinth today?