Labyrinths intrigue me. Unlike the maze\u2019s entertainment through confusion and trickery, a labyrinth\u2019s purpose is to calm, enlighten and perhaps provide spiritual growth to the one who walks the circuitous path leading toward a center and back out into the world.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve walked a labyrinth a few times, but even reading about the labyrinth\u2019s significance, what walking it can do for a person and reading others\u2019 experiences provides spiritual insights for me. I\u2019ve been re-reading for the umpteenth time Walking a Scared Path <\/em>by The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, an Episcopal priest whose work immersed her in labyrinths. From so many readings, my paperback opens easily to certain pages. Various shades of yellow highlighters threaten to run together, creating, not just significant points, but entire pages as important to me.<\/p>\n Each time I read this book, I gain a new insight\u2014and challenge. The labyrinth path one walks is set. The way one experiences that walk and what one hopes to gain from the walk is individual, based on such things as the walker\u2019s needs, attention to inner and outer forces, and expectations. Other than walking that set path, it\u2019s a pretty freewheeling exercise.<\/p>\n Artress published a letter in her book from one particular \u201cseeker,\u201d who shared her experience. That letter ended with \u201c\u2026the only requirement is to put one foot in front of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n Those words ignited my insight for the day. Walking is my choice of physical exercise, but it isn\u2019t always easy. It is my alone time, my thinking time, but still is work. To make those forays more interesting, I began talking photos and posting them on social media under the heading \u201cToday\u2019s Walk,\u201d which then led to this blog. Doing so forced me to find interesting things and helped me get to know my neighborhood.<\/p>\n To do that daily walk, I just have to put one foot in front of the other. Eventually, those steps lead back home. Often, I can be overwhelmed by a project or the screams from my To Do List. But, of course, we know getting it done involves one step at a time. I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not the only one who tackles solving problems or bad situations this way.<\/p>\n In our society, talking about \u201cputting one foot in front of the other\u201d bears somewhat of a negative connotation, a bit of drudgery. But I think the phrase breaks down easily what is required of us.<\/p>\n As with walking the labyrinth, the only requirement for life is putting one foot in front of the other. Some days that may be a plodding movement leading to unpleasantness. But other days, those feet may lead to steps that run, dance, jump or spin us into new places in our spiritual world and physical world.<\/p>\n Join me in putting one foot in front of the other. See where that takes you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labyrinths intrigue me. Unlike the maze\u2019s entertainment through confusion and trickery, a labyrinth\u2019s purpose is to calm, enlighten and perhaps provide spiritual growth to the one who walks the circuitous path leading toward a center and back out into the world. I\u2019ve walked a labyrinth a few times, but even reading about the labyrinth\u2019s significance,… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}