Saturday, April 3rd, and Thursday, April 23rd, I’m going to be presenting The Transformation Game (http://www.innerlinks.com/aboutUs.php) as a means to access joy, which needs to be distinguished from happiness. Happiness is usually “because of” some external event—lunch with a friend, a trip to Lake Superior, reading a good book—while joy might be said to be “in spite of” external circumstances—it comes, often unexpectedly, from within, sometimes as a golden light which radiates out from me to touch all that I see. So “accessing joy” is about making oneself more available to that which is just waiting for us to notice it, or “igniting de-light within.” If you’re in the neighborhood, come and join in the fun at Crystal Visions bookstore (http://crystalvisionsbooks.com) near Hendersonville, NC.

Want to know what to make of your dreams? I offer dream workshops, live or on c/d, in which you will learn things like: how to learn your dream language and how to create your own dream dictionary; how to ask your dreams to answer particular questions;  how to deepen your relationship with and understanding of your dreams; ways to enhance your memory of your dreams. Start now by going to sleep every night with the intentiion of remembering a dream which you will want to explore in the morning; go ahead and ask a question, as well, and assume that any dream—an image, sound, word, body feeling—is an answer to the question. Write your dreams in a special journal; add drawings, doodles, and ideas triggered by the dream. Above all, have fun. By dreaming together, we awaken ourselves, each other, and the planet.

From 1/17/08
This morning I watched a video by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., entitled, Healing the Luminous Body: The Way of the Shaman, in which he talks about Destiny retrieval. This feels very similar to James Hillman’s ideas in Soul’s Code, and to a number of current writers/thinkers. The idea is this: no matter what current circumstances are, no matter what diagnosis you have been given, etc., there is a possible healthy, whole, joyful, successful you which already exists in the “future”; the retrieval opens a doorway to that possible you and retrieves it from the “future” to the present moment—you merely need to allow it, step into it, etc.
I took this idea with me into the labyrinth this morning, and walked toward that “possible me” which is a successful visionary artist, leaving behind the worries, fears, doubts, and nay-sayers in my mind.

Enter the Labyrinth for Health and Wellness

The labyrinth—it’s not a maze

When I suggest entering the labyrinth, I’m not talking about the maze of Western health care. The term labyrinth refers to any spiral-like pattern (there are many, both ancient and modern) which can serve as a metaphor for a journey—such as a healing journey. Like a maze, the path of a labyrinth begins at the outer edge and takes you through many twists and turns on your way to its center; unlike a maze, there are no blind alleys, no false paths, just one leading you inexorably inward to the center.

At the center of the labyrinth

Any number of things may be found at the center of a labyrinth:
• an experience of your own center
• an appreciation of your power, strength, wisdom
• an abiding peace and calm
• joy and delight
• a sense of wholeness (which is the root meaning of the word health)

The outmoded paradigm of health care

Most older adults in the United States grew up with the assumption that if, God forbid, we ever got sick, our doctors, employers, health insurance plans, and government would work together to make sure we became healthy again. The recent movie “Sicko” brings into stark relief the fact that this assumption, whether or not it was once valid, is no longer so.

Many doctors unwittingly opted into a system which largely takes the choice of how to practice medicine out of their hands, let alone those of their patients. Insurance companies spend enormous amounts of time and subscribers’ dollars trying to limit the coverage they provide, no matter what your policy says. The result is a system which is so expensive that many employers can no longer afford to provide any health care insurance at all. And the government seems unable or unwilling to effect useful change.

A new paradigm for health and wellness

Many people are choosing to take matters into their own hands. Some do this by availing themselves of as much information as possible about their own perceived or diagnosed ills before visiting an M.D. Some people go to alternative health care providers, and some take mountains of supplements every day. While these methods work extremely well for some, for many it may simply be a change in the geography of what remains a largely paternalistic attitude—that the source of healing/health/wholeness resides outside of the individual and in the hands of some presumably benevolent caretaker or the pills which they recommend.

I propose an even more radical paradigm in which each of us takes 100% responsibility for our own well-being. Even though there are times when I lose my enthusiasm for practicing the healthy life-style I prefer—the good food I enjoy preparing, the forms of exercise to which my body responds well, the spiritual practices which give my life meaning and value—I still take full responsibility for this. I know that if something goes awry, it is very likely due to my own inattention and is my body/mind/spirit’s attempt to help me notice this fact. So I begin listening again to see if I can discern what wants to happen. This may include a change in diet (e.g., giving up cold foods for the winter) or exercise (e.g., giving up swimming in a pool because my body didn’t like the chlorine), a renewed spiritual practice, or even a trip to just the right health care practitioner, which I can judge by my response to the treatment or support which is offered.

Using the labyrinth as a wellness coach

The labyrinth helps me with this. Sometimes I walk or trace it for peace and relaxation, sometimes for the joy it brings, sometimes for focus, sometimes for answers: I enter with a specific question, and wait in the center for the answer, which is not always immediately forthcoming. Ssometimes I walk the labyrinth as a prayer, with a mantra connected to my breath. Each day that goes by without accessing my own inner landscape in this, or some other, fashion, I am left feeling less centered, less whole, less balanced. And each day that I do go within, I feel healthier, happier, more alive.
Would you use a labyrinth or some other wellness coach if. . .
• it allowed you to feel more in charge of your own health and well-being?
• it reduced your reliance on health care practitioners?
• it reduced your consumption of pills?
• it left you with more time and money for things which are fun and nourishing?
• it allowed you to listen more effectively to your own inner wisdom?

Your next step to wellness

I encourage you to find out what your wellness labyrinth/coach is and use it regularly. For a walkable labyrinth near you, check out the world-wide labyrinth locator at: www.wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org. For finger labyrinths which go where you go, see my quilted lap labyrinths. I also provide wellness coaching.

Welcome to Labrinth Designs, where you can begin to walk your own inner labyrinth, the path laid out before you, to find your center.