Walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for our journey through life. There is nothing more peaceful than the luxury of walking a labyrinth on your own. It is pretty much the same as sitting alone in meditation; you can reach that yearned for stillness and reprieve from the stresses of life so much more easily on your own.
Unless you live in isolation at the top of the proverbial mountain, most of us don’t get to spend our life alone existing in a beautifully zenned out state; and even if we do, we still have to interact with those outside the home, at work and with friends and family. Walking the labyrinth with other people is again the metaphor for just this issue. It is never the same experience as a solo walk. You don’t quite get to focus on just yourself as you pass each other on the paths. This can be frustrating as thoughts of “do I acknowledge them”; “I mustn’t spend too much time at the centre or I will hold others up” interrupt the mindful state you are trying to achieve when walking a labyrinth.
But why can’t we always find peace and happiness in the presence of others? Part of the reason is that we compromise our own truth. We can rarely be truly ourselves, as we don the appropriate hat and traverse each day. We have our Mum/Dad hat on, our boss or employee hat, our husband /wife/lover/friend/meeting/public hats on and the list goes on. We make compromises every day of our lives, mostly tiny ones that don’t seem to matter or add up to much, but we still do this.
I recently decided to finally give grain free living a go. I know I am slightly intolerant to wheat but not so much that I could be bothered to make my own separate meals. I had been in effect compromising what my body’s truth was for decades, to fit into the family meal routine. The positive results were astounding for me in only 3 days, as each day I watched my body gratefully adjust to grain free living. It was even a little bit scary as I contemplated what damage and stress I had been putting my body through.
Such a small compromise made but which caused such a detrimental effect to my body has been the inspiration for this blog. There are so many compromises that can cause much more serious effects on our physical, mental and emotional health. Even worse, if these compromises are done in a resentful way then slowly and surely the anger and resentment will build and build until we either explode or become depressed or even physically ill. But even if we do them seemingly willingly as I did, we starve our body and soul little by little, day by day of what we truly want for ourselves.
I imagine if you are the sort of person that recognises these traits in yourself, you are now thinking; how can I do what I want and not care about others? What is my partner going to say when I change our diet to suit me or demand joint custody of the TV remote control? What will people think if I refuse to go to an event just because I don’t want to go? How can I speak a truth that quite frankly no one is going to want to hear? How can I just change my career for the soul (deliberate typo here) purpose of making myself happy? The list goes on and on and on.
Well maybe we can’t always is the answer. But, and this is a very important BUT. We have to try and get as near to walking our talk as possible. We can lie to others and put on the appropriate hat but we cannot lie to our bodies our mind and our soul. Sooner or later the bubble will burst. If you are reading this and have thought of anything that you feel is a compromise then do something about it.
Be brave; feed your Soul, walk your talk, gently speak your truth as often as you can. You will be surprised how life around you changes. Your energy will change, you will emit a state of integrity that those around you, and people you meet, will respond to. As you live your truth you will subtly inspire and influence those around you to do the same. But more importantly, you will start to feel happier, vibrant, peaceful and far more able to make the odd compromise when you need to.
Wishing you all, a joyful, truthful and Soul led walk through life.