Finding a Labyrinth in your Community

Why do I walk the labyrinth? I walk it because it is the simplest way I know to connect to my body, to stop my mind from constant chattering, and to become present to the moment. I feel more connected to myself after time in my labyrinth.

Your experience might be different, and the best way to find out what a labyrinth is all about, is to walk one.

I'm fortunate enough to have a labyrinth in my back yard, but recently labyrinths have sprung up everywhere, and you might find there is one just around the corner from you by going to the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator.

And if you want to find out more about labyrinths, I recommend you start with the book Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice by Lauren Artress.

I'd love to hear about your experiences in the labyrinth.

A Gift from the Labyrinth in Mirepoix, France

One of the treasured memories from my recent trip to France, was visiting Mirepoix, a beautiful Medieval Bastide town outside Carcassonne. I had been told I might find a labyrinth there, in the Cathedral of St. Maurice. What I discovered was that the labyrinth was not in fact a walkable labyrinth. It was a series of tiles measuring approximately 24 inches across and inlaid on the floor of a side chapel of the Cathedral which was not open to the public.

However, I was fortunate enough to find a photograph of the tiles displayed in the Church, and my timing was perfect, as one of the stained glass windows in the Cathedral was reflected in the glass covering the image of the labyrinth. An unexpected gift from the labyrinth.

The holy whole

Hop, Skip, Jump to Playful Action!

Hop, Skip, Jump! What a fabulous name for a book on how to creativity make life more meaningful. Marney Makridakis was one of the very first people to create an online artistic community through her website Artella. It was a source of much inspiration to me when I first started working with collage and mixed media, and so I know she has years of practical experience in guiding us to creatively make meaning from our lives.

"Play is the portal to presence. 
Play is the way you touch and amplify the enchantment of being human."

I just love this quote from page 3 of Hop, Skip, Jump: 75 Ways to Playfully Manifest a Meaningful Life. We are so often intent on getting something done that we forget to play, and play does make all the difference in living an enchanted life.

Marney's book focuses on the intersection of play and productivity.

HOP relates to dreaming and planning.
SKIP to experimenting and exploring
JUMP to taking action and completion.

I am finding all sorts of new ideas for my own creativity in this book, and just took Marney's online quiz to find out if I was a hopper, a skipper or a jumper! I invite you to try it as well to find out your productivity style.