Worship outside of a church comes in many forms.  For the service, several members shared their ways of being mindful and growing spiritually. These included listening to music, engaging in specific meditation times, and singing. My contribution was this short talk on how walking a labyrinth daily has been an important part of 2018.  Since late December 2017, I have walked either the Phoenix Harmony Labyrinth or when traveling found a labyrinth to walk, or used a small cloth lap labyrinth and as a last resort, used my palm to mindfully walk a labyrinth.

“Carry On” Lyrics from the American Indie Pop group, FUN.

“If you’re lost and alone

Or you’re sinking like a stone

Carry on.

May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground

Carry on.

Carry on, carry on.”

The lyrics of this song often scroll through my mind as I walk a labyrinth daily. Walking a labyrinth is my meditation.

The song reminds us that none of us is perfect.  We can chew on our faults, making them who we are.  Or we can acknowledge the negatives things like wrong doings, surliness, inconsideration, not listening and then we can choose,

Yes, we have a choice, to acknowledge positives in our lives and work towards them. To make them part of who we really are.

We are Holy Spirits Bound in Human Bodies. Frailly Divine you might say.

Walking a labyrinth daily provides me with this time and space. For me to pause…Ground…Center in the moment…and Mindfully walk with a Grateful Heart.

I give thanks: to the day and the season regardless of the weather; the plants and animals; our home; Rich and our families; our bounty.

I ask for blessings on those in need, trauma, who are far away, with whom I have had disagreements and whose actions I disagree with.

I ask Divine Love that is within me to help me remember to open my heart and mind to grace and compassion.

Walking the labyrinth helps me catch and dispel the grumpiness that sometimes overwhelms me.

Speaking scientifically, by choosing to center in gratitude I change the brainwaves by allowing neurotransmitters to reinforce certain pathways.  Positive pathways. I allow time for resolution of matters as I form habits of gratefulness and positivity.

Spiritually, this allows time and opens space to choose to walk mindfully; to invite in peacefulness that I work to carry through the day.

As I carry on, I remind myself that peace begins with me with the sound of my feet upon the ground.

From Abraham Maslow: “The most fortunate are those who have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.”

From Linda Mikell, Veriditas Council member and skilled labyrinth facilitator, “People tell me time and again that the labyrinth has an aspect of awe and wonder about it.”