Shear Gladness

Day 112: April 22
In The Year of Living Honestly
In The Quarter of: Education
In The Month of: Amusement

Today the strands of life came together through a collaboration of cosmetologists. Arriving at my daughter’s salon, the idea was to trim up a few loose ends and in the conversations and chatter, the labyrinth weaved its way from brain to scalp. The process and procedures of styling were standard, though being Mom, special treatment meant a few extra perks and a bit more time in the affair of the chair.

Time to doodle with affect of the surrounding wall images of ravishing locks, the observance of the threads and strands in their natural and somewhat unnatural order moved circular, straight and altogether redistributed. Each fun follicle emanated from a central point and with a variety of stylized directions maneuvered in such a way as to meander until it found its completion among others.

From a bottom’s up perspective one might find the intrigue begins at the ends and moves to a central point with a reflection from before to after. A look at some of the designs of coif and couture and it is not surprising to find a labyrinth affair of hair so purposefully appreciated. Perhaps in this amusing way, the labyrinth can remove all the twisting, twirling and teasing with a little straightforward insight.  In the honesty of a hair style we might discover some of our greater features that bring us to take things a little less seriously and be INspired by our natural creativities to play with what is available.

On this 112th day…
Weave your way onto the path today noticing the strands in each path and how they each are part of the whole.

 

————————————————————————————–

April’s Focus

Let this month unfurl your creativity, spontaneity and jocularity. It feels good to feel good and while we have been conditioned to shush our good times, let the labyrinth be our own private creation station of amusement, enjoyment and playful experiments. This month educate with amusement and see how much farther you get. Have fun and be creative.  We have three opportunities to education your potential with amusement this month that involves either your personal walk, your ability to design and how much you can learn by sharing. On your Mark, Get Set…Go!

1. Innovate – Walk Amused
   In the 30 days that grace this month, play with the way you personally experience the labyrinth. Let this season of education be one of personal bests and enjoy finding a new way to be innovative, creative, inspired and amused in your personal experiences. I’d love to see what you come up with!
   Please share your wonderful experiences! 

2. Create – Design Inspired 
To date I have created 95 different labyrinth creations and designs since the beginning of the year, let that inspire you to create something new this month that is inspiring and firing for your imagination. Einstein said that playing with ideas was the highest form of research and this is an education for all of us.  As you walk in new ways, share your designs as I have done with mine last year and this. Perfection isn’t what we are after, amusement is! I look forward to seeing what you come up with! I will toss out lots of inspiring ideas… stay tuned daily.
Share away and become a glad designer instead of a mad one!  

3. Relate – Share with Care
One of the best ways to learn anything is having to teach or explain it to someone else. Whether you facilitate others, teach or simply share with a few, spend the month discovering amusing new ways to help others get more out of their walk with a lighter attitude and a more earnest enjoyment in what you share. Anything you want to know more about, share and this month share with a fun flair and notice how much more you actually begin to understand. You just might find a side of yourself forgotten. To receive all that, be a great giver.
Share what you discover! 

Advertisements

The Key of Flow

Day 98: April 8
In The Year of Living Honestly
In The Quarter of: Education
In The Month of: Amusement

The holidays of the Christian Easter and Passover have completed and are followed by the Orthodox Christian Easter that begins today as identified by the Julian calendar that sets the date after Passover. This Easter is the result of the excommunication of the Pope of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Patriarch of the Orthodoxy back in 1054 AD where the adoption of the Gregorian calendar by Catholic and Protestant Christianity set a new date for the Easter holiday. Easter is a time of resurrection and freedom added by the newness of Spring reminding us to begin anew and rise.

The use of the Greek Key is a great appreciation for the consistent pattern that moves the tide of flow. It comes from the ancient river Meander and symbolizes the natural order of movement; and when it comes in the form of a circle, it is a reminder of how we are connected in the bonds of friendships and families. The Greek Key has been an important iconic geometric pattern that flows throughout Greek history and is a symbol of infinity. The custom of the red eggs denotes the blood of Christ and the designs can be as simple as a pure red dye or  as different and intricate with patterns depicting the cultural basis and beliefs of the different Orthodoxies.

It was fun to create this element of time with 24 keys to walk each hour of this day in one instance to elevate the flow of possibility that exists in review of what we can make free with the honesty of this year’s program and amusing to add the design of the labyrinth to the depth of meaning that the red eggs symbolize humbly honoring what we can set free and realize within ourselves.

May the joys of connection, rising and infinite flow enhance your walk and exploration of ancient meanings for conventional times today.

On this 98th day…
Meander in the ease of natural flow in your walk and notice how much more at each your natural flow becomes.

 

————————————————————————————–

April’s Focus

Let this month unfurl your creativity, spontaneity and jocularity. It feels good to feel good and while we have been conditioned to shush our good times, let the labyrinth be our own private creation station of amusement, enjoyment and playful experiments. This month educate with amusement and see how much farther you get. Have fun and be creative.  We have three opportunities to education your potential with amusement this month that involves either your personal walk, your ability to design and how much you can learn by sharing. On your Mark, Get Set…Go!

1. Innovate – Walk Amused
   In the 30 days that grace this month, play with the way you personally experience the labyrinth. Let this season of education be one of personal bests and enjoy finding a new way to be innovative, creative, inspired and amused in your personal experiences. I’d love to see what you come up with!
   Please share your wonderful experiences! 

2. Create – Design Inspired 
To date I have created 95 different labyrinth creations and designs since the beginning of the year, let that inspire you to create something new this month that is inspiring and firing for your imagination. Einstein said that playing with ideas was the highest form of research and this is an education for all of us.  As you walk in new ways, share your designs as I have done with mine last year and this. Perfection isn’t what we are after, amusement is! I look forward to seeing what you come up with! I will toss out lots of inspiring ideas… stay tuned daily.
Share away and become a glad designer instead of a mad one!  

3. Relate – Share with Care
One of the best ways to learn anything is having to teach or explain it to someone else. Whether you facilitate others, teach or simply share with a few, spend the month discovering amusing new ways to help others get more out of their walk with a lighter attitude and a more earnest enjoyment in what you share. Anything you want to know more about, share and this month share with a fun flair and notice how much more you actually begin to understand. You just might find a side of yourself forgotten. To receive all that, be a great giver.
Share what you discover! 

Perspective on Perspective

TLS 365 Experience #182
Aug. 29, 2017

Years ago I realized that I think in the style of the labyrinths.

I aimlessly doodle when I am attempting to figure things out and in doing so a meander falls onto the path of my paper and it winds around going back and forth and hits a central point before moving out again. A meander generally weaves in and out, though when my mind is working on something, there is a point I return to again and again. On paper I realized that I moved away from the point where I begin and yet again time after time as if in an endless loop I return bringing something new to consider inward until I am satisfied or realize the value of the point I was after.

I never really noticed this until I walked the labyrinth. It was as if my doodle became life sized and larger enough to see it all from a different vantage point. It appears to use perspective to create more perspective.

Today’s Experience submitted by:
L.P., Creative Endeavors, Labyrinth Facilitator
Nevada

---

The TLS 365 Experience: A Cycle of Giving & Receiving

1. Give
Share your own “Experience” and add to the wisdom:
https://labyrinthsociety.org/share-your-experience

2. Receive
Read/Bookmark/Apply the Daily Experience:
Website: https://labyrinthsociety.org/daily-message
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LabyrinthSociety
Blog: https://tls365experience.wordpress.com

The cycle of giving and receiving is a cycle of caring and sharing of our wisdom and appreciation

Artistic Applications

TLS 365 Experience #151
July 29, 2017

Our class was experimenting with creating molding clay from a recipe. We were sampling and experimenting working with different types and I liked the recipe that had the consistency of Play doh. Because I like to make labyrinths, I rolled out a few long threads and created some simple designs with the threads of the clay-doh.

It was also interesting just to create a meander with finely rolled strips of the clay-doh by piecing them together and then letting the meander take us away. Later I experimented with imprints and could make a variety of different items from jewelry to paper weights and small finger labyrinths.

I also rolled out some of the clay-doh and traced a labyrinth on top and then cut out the borders for a frame to quickly draw a labyrinth. I am still experimenting with my clay-doh labyrinths, and suspect there are many more ways to create with clay.

Today’s Experience submitted by:
Jen J. , Labyrinth Artist
Illinois

---

The TLS 365 Experience: A Cycle of Giving & Receiving

1. Give
Share your own “Experience” and add to the wisdom:
https://labyrinthsociety.org/share-your-experience

2. Receive
Read/Bookmark/Apply the Daily Experience:
Website: https://labyrinthsociety.org/daily-message
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LabyrinthSociety
Blog: https://tls365experience.wordpress.com

The cycle of giving and receiving is a cycle of caring and sharing of our wisdom and appreciation

Labyrinths In Life

TLS 365 Experience #132
July 10, 2017

When your focus is about the labyrinth, they seem to show up everywhere. From the simple Greek Key design to a fully walkable permanent design;  we can find them in society and nature.

The geometric shapes become more plentiful and seem to be represented in pattern and fabric and over the years I have found them in the most interesting of areas and places I wouldn’t really expect.

Meanders in nature and design, clothing and architecture are really more common than we might think. Look up, look down they are all around.

Today’s Experience submitted by:
B Murray, Labyrinth Enthusiast
Utah

---

The TLS 365 Experience: A Cycle of Giving & Receiving

1. Give
Share your own “Experience” and add to the wisdom:
https://labyrinthsociety.org/share-your-experience

2. Receive
Read/Bookmark/Apply the Daily Experience:
Website: https://labyrinthsociety.org/daily-message
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LabyrinthSociety
Blog: https://tls365experience.wordpress.com

The cycle of giving and receiving is a cycle of caring and sharing of our wisdom and appreciation

Slowing Down

TLS 365 Experience #118
June 26, 2017

The labyrinth is where I learn all about how to slow down and appreciate. I keep finding myself hurried and busy and it seems to really be increasing as there is so much busy and hurry in the activity around me.  It often feels like a feeding frenzy of unnecessary activity.

I am happy to have a place to go that lets me take the slow meander and relax as I move. On the labyrinth I walk intentionally slower, though am seeming to move so fast; until my mind catches up with the pace my body is moving. Instead of my mind telling my body how to react, I reverse the process and now just taking a walk has a whole new meaning.

Today’s Experience submitted by:
G. Andrew, Labyrinth Enthusiast
Colorado

---

The TLS 365 Experience: A Cycle of Giving & Receiving

1. Give
Share your own “Experience” and add to the wisdom:
https://labyrinthsociety.org/share-your-experience

2. Receive
Read/Bookmark/Apply the Daily Experience:
Website: https://labyrinthsociety.org/daily-message
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LabyrinthSociety
Blog: https://tls365experience.wordpress.com

The cycle of giving and receiving is a cycle of caring and sharing of our wisdom and appreciation

Day in the Life of a Labyrinth

In the art of walking differently, how many trace their daily steps?

A Day in the Life Labyrinthically

On this day of curiosity, I did. I found I did a tremendous amount of walking and while you can count your steps with a pedometer, it is not often that you track where you go and how you get there.

Without tracing the little necessities in my steps, I kept a noted tab on the directions I found myself walking today and soon I was tracking as I found myself in a labyrinthic journey.

 

I noted when I walked down the hall to grab something from another room, which direction I headed when organizing, going to work, going back and forth with clients, heading out to share a program, lunch, running errands, meeting a friend for coffee, stopping to make phone calls, and a general track of my day.

It is interesting to note the larger patterns and when we are wearing the tread of a particular problem or the groove of routine too thin. I do recall one day I would have liked to have tracked my day as I bet it would have ended up in a big question mark.

Go where there is no path and pave one… discover a different way to walk and a way you walk that isn’t so different and mesh the two for a wonderful new awareness of you on your daily life path.

It only looks like I have all the fun… stay curious my friends,

Lynda

 

The Meandering Heart of Snake and the Chinese New Year

Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year begun on the 41st day of our Gregorian calendar. The Chinese New Year divides itself into 12 segments honoring 12 animals to symbolize the characteristics relative to the year’s cycle.

The Meandering Heart

This is the year of the Snake.
The physical characteristics of the snake lend itself to the labyrinth in the very nature of its meandering style of movement.

While I am not particularly crazy about snakes, they are a natural part of this world and the study of animals in habit, characteristic and pattern can teach us many things.

I had opportunity to draw this as a totem animal on retreat and it brought back the memory of my maternal lineage and a heartfelt message. It changed my mind from recoiling to meandering in the message. Along the way I began to look at it more significantly and found the snake a symbol of transformation, indeed it was the work I have chosen in this world.

The snake symbol is powerful medicine in many aboriginal and native tribes and we have to look no further than the rod of Asclepius that represents the heart of our medical community or the well known caduceus that also symbolizes our own seat of commerce.

Consider as well the traits of the snake:
It moves quiet and unassumingly in the world and shows up when it chooses.
When it is in search of a target it remains patient and clear focused to obtain it. It uses its natural abilities to outmaneuver prey.
It can fit in anywhere with its ability to camouflage.
It sheds, releases or purges with regularity.
It surely doesn’t get tied up in knots
and… it may meander through its life, though it does it with style and purpose

Snaking a path to the labyrinth

Today as I have meandered on the labyrinth, it was good to note the aspects of the natural world and celebrate the snake as a part of it.

I may have seemed aimless, though my direction was a simple path to the heart. In appreciation of our natural world there is heart.

 

May we all move with the ease and ability of the snake and take in a few of those serpentine characteristics that might benefit us while on a path to our hearts desire.

In ease and movement,

Lynda