So often, when I hear people talk about going on a quest, they talk about going to remote places or off into the wilderness. However, one can stay in one’s own backyard or neighborhood and engage on a time of questing. Although I am no longer able to “walk” the labyrinth, I do finger labyrinths and find other ways of engaging in “walking” time with the Divine.
For many walking the labyrinth is a time of prayer. With each step one takes on the labyrinth one is both walking with and towards a deeper relationship with their Higher Power. Just as there is no one place to go to engage in a quest, there is no one way to walk the labyrinth. Some people I know have a prayer they speak softly or silently as they walk the path. Others have walked with a question and allowing each step to open themselves up to hearing the answer to their question or some sort of insight into the direction they should be going. There is no right way to walk the labyrinth and there is no right way to experience it. We are never the same person twice, so even when though you may walk the same labyrinth every week, that experience will never be the same as you are not the same.
I remember the first time I walked a labyrinth I was told that everything which happened and I experienced was a metaphor for my life and an answer to a question, even if I had not asked for it yet. I remember the first time I walked a labyrinth, I found myself a bit nervous about what the experience would be like. I found myself worried about whether or not I was going to get lost, take a wrong turn, how would I know if I was moving towards or away from the center. Then I remembered what I was told and that walking the labyrinth this time was about me walking in faith. It was, for me, a reminder that it is about the journey and knowing that the answers will be revealed at the right time.
The next time I walked it I learned that I needed to release my concern about the future. I needed to release my need to have the answers and to be in control of my destiny. I learned to release needing to lay everything out and just be in the moment.
Now, as I do finger labyrinths at home, I find that sometimes I lose track of time and where I am in the journey with and towards the Divine center. I remember being surprised one day when I realized I had spent 30 minutes “walking” the labyrinth when I thought I had gone through it in a matter of moments. I had no idea how long I had been on that journey. Doing so, now, reminds me again to focus on the journey, not how long it takes me to get there. It is all about the journey, and that is one thing I have come to deeply understand
You do not have to travel long distances to engage in a quest. You can take a journey in your own hometown.