This morning’s labyrinth walk was thoughtful and quiet, punctuated by the scree of a hawk. It made me curious about why they make that sound. I always think of them as hunting when they’re making that sound because I can see them up there in the sky circling, but really, if they’re hunting, why would they make a sound?
But I digress. What I was mostly noticing was the actual path through the spirals. When I start to walk in, I’m walking the outside path, curving towards the left, but when I circle back around I’m now two pathways in, as if I’ve jumped a level, but I know that I’ll “go back” and do that level again. And this thought was such a gentle reminder that I move “forward” and “backwards.” I make judgments about those movements. Forward is “good” and backwards is “bad.” But the truth is that it’s all just part of the journey and it only looks like I’m going forward or backwards. What I am is on a journey, so every step is forward in that the end of this part of the journey is death. And I’m always moving towards that.
Nature was reflecting another thought as I stopped in the center and appreciated the light play on the forest floor. Parts of the ground were illuminated and others were in shadow. I thought about how on a bright, sunny day, with nothing to shade the sun, I find that it’s “too bright.”
So, I’m appreciating light and shadow, masculine and feminine, so many different polarities. Seeing the value in each side of each polarity.
