A few times in our lives we have to re-invent ourselves. Maybe more than a few. This post is about that. And, as always, there is a spirit tool here for you to use.
Of course we have the huge ones, perhaps a loss of a loved one or partner, or a home. Perhaps changes in our bodies, from illness, to menopause (or andropause), or simply in the clumsy grace of aging. We make huge changes when our career or focus changes. Those with children, see such changes happen quickly! Perhaps deciding a relationship, even a friendship doesn’t work anymore. A huge lifestyle change.
It could be a spiritual shift, also. Your energy perhaps has just changed so much (imperceptible at first), that the past just doesn’t fit anymore.
Many have happened to me, and are happening. In my practice, I read, and do healing work at just that exact place…the meeting between body and spirit. Sometimes it is just a simple hello, or acknowledgement, a bringing to awareness, or consciousness, as to what’s going on.
That’s when the magic happens.
Usually, when you do the energy work first, the rest, the physical, even the mental, and emotional, fall into place.
And what a nice place to be. To have everything working together.
Because change, is a constant.
And resistance is futile.
We just recently had our first event at the labyrinth at Robert Sibley Park, in the East Bay hills of Northern California, where I built a rock labyrinth in an old quarry, many years ago. I’m grateful that it’s still there, and a smattering of people make the trek down the hill every single day, to use it.
The East Bay Regional Park has “grandfathered it in" to the park, even though there are a few others, perhaps because it is the oldest, or the most used, and I am grateful for that, as it is a sanctuary. It is a place to get answers, to meditate, to enjoy nature in peace, and to celebrate the spirit of the land.
And every year, it gets destroyed.
There is a small, vernal pond, right next to it, which houses loud mating chorus frogs, and California newts, small snakes looking for a snack, and many animals who drink from it. It smells of the Pennyroyal, the Chamomile growing around it, and sometimes, of the rich mud surrounding it.
Every year, every winter, it rains, and all the rain from the quarry accumulates right there, and the labyrinth gets submerged, especially the top half. The carefully placed stones sink into the rich mud, and are no more. The pathways on the top half end up as tracts of water, after everything subsides, and those chorus frogs lay their eggs in it. As the sun dries those pathways, the froglets are jumping out to live their new lives.
And the labyrinth needs to get rebuilt. New stones placed, to keep the paths defined, and healthy.
How wonderful. It reinvents itself, every year, with the help of people like me, and you, and those who care for the magic of the place.
There are, literally, 30 years worth of sunken rocks, which makes it a long, three dimensional, structure, going down into the depths of the quarry, carrying with it, some of the magic of the center. It grounds the spot into the earth, right there, in that caldera of an ancient volcano. How powerful.
It is more powerful, because of that.
Back to the first story.
Sometimes your life change feels very sudden, almost a crisis, but, when you look at the energy of it, the shift had already come. A change had already been made, the energy was set up, and then the physical manifestation followed. And when we are aware of them, we can either work with those energies, to be a co creator, or, at least do the necessary work to invite the change in to our lives, even if it is a temporary one.
Some of the tools we could use are, neutrality, letting go (releasing the picture of what it should be or how life should be, grace, compassion, being present, and in our bodies (breathe, honor your body, and its limits), gratitude, acceptance, response-ability.
Humor. This tool, the tool of amusement, cannot be underestimated!
There are, also, two more ingredients to this recipe for the re-inventing of your self, and they are, Time, and the Grace of asking for help.
The part where you do the energy work is always a dance, intertwined with doing things in the physical. Perhaps your change is a good one, and involves your wonderful burst of light, and self growth in your life. You see the relationships that need to change, and do the energy work of acknowledgement, of separation, of releasing the past, or of pain, of cutting cords, and of going within, to get your answers. Perhaps to give yourself permission to change, to grow, to be different than who you were. To make peace, with your old world, from all the parts of you. Be curious, as to what else comes up. Perhaps there is deep pain there, or, perhaps you need to grieve the past, or, be heard, or acknowledged for something. Do you need to forgive? Forgive whom?
Now, with some answers for yourself, and some shifting and opening of energies, the physical world is a bit different, and it is easier to work in the world of time, and space.
So, make some changes. Even some small ones at first. Move some furniture around, get that job interview, make some calls. Do something in the new space you have found yourself in.
Take a risk.
The next big tool, is to ask for help.
That is powerful, beyond belief.
Ask for help.
From your friends, from your guides, and helping spirits, from strangers, from colleagues. From the universe.
You may not get it in exactly the way you were expecting, but most times, you get exactly what you need.
You are softened, and humbled by this act. Life happens from a different perspective.
"Not with the eyes,
I am looking for you,
but with the heart,
in this labyrinth
we call life.
Where are you?"
Hafiz
Back to the story of the labyrinth...
For the past 3 or 4 years, I have co-lead a labyrinth/nature walk to the labyrinth, with Regional Park naturalist Michael Charnofsky. Many people get the tour, and learn about the rock formations, history of the park, of the history of labyrinths, and even a bit of my spirit practice thrown in for good measure… the spirits of the land, the healing energies of a labyrinth, etc. It’s always a fun day. This last time, a few people offered to help maintain, instead of me doing it by myself.
And I said yes.
Of course we have the huge ones, perhaps a loss of a loved one or partner, or a home. Perhaps changes in our bodies, from illness, to menopause (or andropause), or simply in the clumsy grace of aging. We make huge changes when our career or focus changes. Those with children, see such changes happen quickly! Perhaps deciding a relationship, even a friendship doesn’t work anymore. A huge lifestyle change.
It could be a spiritual shift, also. Your energy perhaps has just changed so much (imperceptible at first), that the past just doesn’t fit anymore.
Many have happened to me, and are happening. In my practice, I read, and do healing work at just that exact place…the meeting between body and spirit. Sometimes it is just a simple hello, or acknowledgement, a bringing to awareness, or consciousness, as to what’s going on.
That’s when the magic happens.
Usually, when you do the energy work first, the rest, the physical, even the mental, and emotional, fall into place.
And what a nice place to be. To have everything working together.
Because change, is a constant.
And resistance is futile.
We just recently had our first event at the labyrinth at Robert Sibley Park, in the East Bay hills of Northern California, where I built a rock labyrinth in an old quarry, many years ago. I’m grateful that it’s still there, and a smattering of people make the trek down the hill every single day, to use it.
The East Bay Regional Park has “grandfathered it in" to the park, even though there are a few others, perhaps because it is the oldest, or the most used, and I am grateful for that, as it is a sanctuary. It is a place to get answers, to meditate, to enjoy nature in peace, and to celebrate the spirit of the land.
And every year, it gets destroyed.
There is a small, vernal pond, right next to it, which houses loud mating chorus frogs, and California newts, small snakes looking for a snack, and many animals who drink from it. It smells of the Pennyroyal, the Chamomile growing around it, and sometimes, of the rich mud surrounding it.
Every year, every winter, it rains, and all the rain from the quarry accumulates right there, and the labyrinth gets submerged, especially the top half. The carefully placed stones sink into the rich mud, and are no more. The pathways on the top half end up as tracts of water, after everything subsides, and those chorus frogs lay their eggs in it. As the sun dries those pathways, the froglets are jumping out to live their new lives.
And the labyrinth needs to get rebuilt. New stones placed, to keep the paths defined, and healthy.
How wonderful. It reinvents itself, every year, with the help of people like me, and you, and those who care for the magic of the place.
There are, literally, 30 years worth of sunken rocks, which makes it a long, three dimensional, structure, going down into the depths of the quarry, carrying with it, some of the magic of the center. It grounds the spot into the earth, right there, in that caldera of an ancient volcano. How powerful.
It is more powerful, because of that.
Back to the first story.
Sometimes your life change feels very sudden, almost a crisis, but, when you look at the energy of it, the shift had already come. A change had already been made, the energy was set up, and then the physical manifestation followed. And when we are aware of them, we can either work with those energies, to be a co creator, or, at least do the necessary work to invite the change in to our lives, even if it is a temporary one.
Some of the tools we could use are, neutrality, letting go (releasing the picture of what it should be or how life should be, grace, compassion, being present, and in our bodies (breathe, honor your body, and its limits), gratitude, acceptance, response-ability.
Humor. This tool, the tool of amusement, cannot be underestimated!
There are, also, two more ingredients to this recipe for the re-inventing of your self, and they are, Time, and the Grace of asking for help.
The part where you do the energy work is always a dance, intertwined with doing things in the physical. Perhaps your change is a good one, and involves your wonderful burst of light, and self growth in your life. You see the relationships that need to change, and do the energy work of acknowledgement, of separation, of releasing the past, or of pain, of cutting cords, and of going within, to get your answers. Perhaps to give yourself permission to change, to grow, to be different than who you were. To make peace, with your old world, from all the parts of you. Be curious, as to what else comes up. Perhaps there is deep pain there, or, perhaps you need to grieve the past, or, be heard, or acknowledged for something. Do you need to forgive? Forgive whom?
Now, with some answers for yourself, and some shifting and opening of energies, the physical world is a bit different, and it is easier to work in the world of time, and space.
So, make some changes. Even some small ones at first. Move some furniture around, get that job interview, make some calls. Do something in the new space you have found yourself in.
Take a risk.
The next big tool, is to ask for help.
That is powerful, beyond belief.
Ask for help.
From your friends, from your guides, and helping spirits, from strangers, from colleagues. From the universe.
You may not get it in exactly the way you were expecting, but most times, you get exactly what you need.
You are softened, and humbled by this act. Life happens from a different perspective.
"Not with the eyes,
I am looking for you,
but with the heart,
in this labyrinth
we call life.
Where are you?"
Hafiz
Back to the story of the labyrinth...
For the past 3 or 4 years, I have co-lead a labyrinth/nature walk to the labyrinth, with Regional Park naturalist Michael Charnofsky. Many people get the tour, and learn about the rock formations, history of the park, of the history of labyrinths, and even a bit of my spirit practice thrown in for good measure… the spirits of the land, the healing energies of a labyrinth, etc. It’s always a fun day. This last time, a few people offered to help maintain, instead of me doing it by myself.
And I said yes.
Here is a map to the labyrinth:
Luckily, with the labyrinth, it’s in a quarry, and so after the rains expose more rocks, on the sides of the road leading down, and even rolling down from the steep hills surrounding it.
We just had our first “Friends of the Labyrinth” event there, in October, where we spent an afternoon, lovingly refurbishing it. We enjoyed ourselves, and ate snacks, laughed, told stories, and did a ceremony in the center. People who came down to walk the labyrinth, helped with a few rocks, and were on their way again. Some stayed for the ceremony, and are now on the “Friends of the Labyrinth” team, which will return to do the same, each season.
After all these years, it is being reinvented, as a fun event, and a ceremony, as opposed to me doing it alone, in effort.
And I wondered about all the other parts of my life which are being re-invented, instead of being stuck in a certain energy, which keeps it from growing. Which keeps me from growing.
Layers and layers of the old belief system, almost keep it hidden, and it is hard to use all these new tools, of Grace, of Humor, of compassion, of letting go, of not being so afraid of change (since we are dancing with it anyway, in the temporal world).
When will it feel safe for you to reinvent yourself in some way? What parts of you need to be dismembered, of the old structures, and patterns.
What tools do you need?
Can you do the energy work first, so the change feels welcome, and not an intrusion into what was?
What needs to be released, or accepted, or owned, or revisioned, and welcomed, before you go out into the world, to reintegrate your internal changes, and your opening up, your softening up space, to ask for help from the outside.
Do you need to slow down, in order to receive that, before
making a change, affecting a change, doing something in the outside world, now, to make it real?
I used the story of the labyrinth, because for me, asking for and getting help opened up the space for new friendships, new possibilities, a space of inviting in.
Also, the pattern of the classical labyrinth takes you through all the steps, of a chakra healing, and an inner chamber or sanctuary, to gather and use your tools, get inspiration, an answer, a healing, before going back out into the world, with your new self, your present time self, into the world of change.
What a dismemberment, and re-memberment.
Now, how do you want your day to go today? What thing will you allow to unravel, so the light can shine on it, and allow itself to be changed?
copyright HelenaMazzariello/Spiritinjoy 2019
If you liked this article, please give it a Facebook like, or share it with a friend.
Thanks!
Luckily, with the labyrinth, it’s in a quarry, and so after the rains expose more rocks, on the sides of the road leading down, and even rolling down from the steep hills surrounding it.
We just had our first “Friends of the Labyrinth” event there, in October, where we spent an afternoon, lovingly refurbishing it. We enjoyed ourselves, and ate snacks, laughed, told stories, and did a ceremony in the center. People who came down to walk the labyrinth, helped with a few rocks, and were on their way again. Some stayed for the ceremony, and are now on the “Friends of the Labyrinth” team, which will return to do the same, each season.
After all these years, it is being reinvented, as a fun event, and a ceremony, as opposed to me doing it alone, in effort.
And I wondered about all the other parts of my life which are being re-invented, instead of being stuck in a certain energy, which keeps it from growing. Which keeps me from growing.
Layers and layers of the old belief system, almost keep it hidden, and it is hard to use all these new tools, of Grace, of Humor, of compassion, of letting go, of not being so afraid of change (since we are dancing with it anyway, in the temporal world).
When will it feel safe for you to reinvent yourself in some way? What parts of you need to be dismembered, of the old structures, and patterns.
What tools do you need?
Can you do the energy work first, so the change feels welcome, and not an intrusion into what was?
What needs to be released, or accepted, or owned, or revisioned, and welcomed, before you go out into the world, to reintegrate your internal changes, and your opening up, your softening up space, to ask for help from the outside.
Do you need to slow down, in order to receive that, before
making a change, affecting a change, doing something in the outside world, now, to make it real?
I used the story of the labyrinth, because for me, asking for and getting help opened up the space for new friendships, new possibilities, a space of inviting in.
Also, the pattern of the classical labyrinth takes you through all the steps, of a chakra healing, and an inner chamber or sanctuary, to gather and use your tools, get inspiration, an answer, a healing, before going back out into the world, with your new self, your present time self, into the world of change.
What a dismemberment, and re-memberment.
Now, how do you want your day to go today? What thing will you allow to unravel, so the light can shine on it, and allow itself to be changed?
copyright HelenaMazzariello/Spiritinjoy 2019
If you liked this article, please give it a Facebook like, or share it with a friend.
Thanks!
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