Have You Ever Walked A Labyrinth?

I recently had the great fortune to walk a beautiful "signature" labyrinth at a lovely private home with a group of spiritual (and spirited) women. It was such a peaceful and reflective experience that I wanted to share it with you…and use this opportunity of writing about it for further reflection.

(How many times do wonderful opportunities for learning and reflection whiz past and so quickly get lost in the busyness of everyday life.)

First, what is the difference between a labyrinth and a maze? I wondered that myself. A maze is a puzzle you're trying to solve, or a situation you're trying to find a way out of.  ;->

A labyrinth is special place to deliberately slow down and meander. A place to be contemplative. A place to heighten our awareness of ourselves and our appreciation of nature and our surroundings.

Labyrinth walking is a "focused walking meditation."

We each wrote on a piece of paper something we were really ready to let go of. Then, one by one, we held our paper over a flame until it ignited and set it down to burn on the ground as we stepped onto the threshold of the labyrinth entrance--a colorful square tile set in the ground.

And, one by one, we entered this open-air sacred space, each going at our own pace, following a gentle spiral path set amid tall trees and natural undergrowth.

The path was beautifully and lovingly enhanced by dozens of special touches, gems and inspirations. A lovely mosaic bench under a tree. An a-frame wooden bird house. The word PEACE. Chimes tinkling gently in the breeze. A flowering azalea. A large fountain. And, at the very center of the labyrinth, a 7-foot statue of a female angel with wings.

Before we entered, our host had thoughtfully given us each a small, stapled packet of paper, each sheet (there were over a dozen) containing a phrase or question to enhance our contemplation as we walked. "Is your perception of the world peaceful?" "All needs are met." "Can you find peace within the suffering?"  "Shine your light into the darkness."

As I meandered, lost in my own thoughts and feeling a deep and easy connection to what I consider divine, I encountered my fellow labyrinth walkers in similar meditation. Our respectful silence felt inclusive--we were sharing that large space of silence, not trying to keep each other out. I felt a unified and cumulative spiritual power that I had never experienced before.

What I liked most about the labyrinth was that the only way out was going back the same way I came in. That offered the exquisite opportunity to see again all that I had first encountered … but now from an entirely different perspective. I found many more little treasures and special touches that I had not noticed on my first pass. Some things were indeed only visible from this new point of view.

As I approached the threshold tile and prepared to exit the labyrinth, I turned around for one last look. What I saw was yet another perspective on all that I had seen. This view was more "mature" as I re-viewed the path I had already taken, recalling my journey to and back from the very "heart" of this experience. I breathed in deeply and felt a smile of, dare I say, "wisdom" light my face as I turned and stepped out of the labyrinth.

That feeling of "wisdom" came from an analogy that occurred to me in that moment:  how our life experience is so similar to a labyrinth walking experience.

How later in life, after we've been around the bend once or twice, we see and appreciate things that we didn't (or even couldn't) see when we were younger. How the first part of our life journey is often about getting "to" somewhere or something. After we've gotten there, the journey changes. Our perspective changes. Things delight us now that we hadn't noticed before.

How it's possible to race through life with blinders on, excluding those around us. Or, we can meander, contemplate, and bask whenever we choose. How we don't have to talk or even make eye contact with others to include them in our experience in a deep and meaningful way. How when we take time to reflect, appreciate and learn, our experience is greatly enhanced. How like-minded individuals generate an awesome collective power.

How looking back on our life from any point gives us a grander view of the whole journey. How the unwinding of life can be as stimulating and enjoyable (though in a different way) as the initial exploration. How thoughtful, caring touches can add so much to others' experience.

How a clear vision and deep desire to serve others can turn a patch of trees and underbrush into a sacred and transformative space. How a deliberate meditative experience can slow us down enough to notice the true gems in life. The gems are, after all is said and done, what we'll remember most. Not the twists and turns. Not the struggles to reach our destinations. But the small (and large) delights along the way.

Thank you for sharing these few moments of reflection with me. If they have been half as valuable to you as they have been to me, then we have both spent our time well.

Warmly,

Evelyn

P.S.  Research from Harvard Medical School shows that focused walking meditations are highly effective at reducing anxiety and they promote many long term health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, resolving insomnia, and improving fertility. Labyrinth walking is a simple form of focused walking meditation, and hundreds of hospitals, health care facilities, hospices, spas, and even some schools have installed labyrinths in recent years. 

To learn more, please visit http://www.lessons4living.com/labyrinth.htm

P.P.S. Special thanks to Reverend BJ for sharing her gorgeous labyrinth with us.

5 Essential Ingredients for a Great Life!

Over the course of my lifetime, I've thought a lot about how to have a happy and fulfilling life. Especially during troubled and trying times. And during the good times I wondered how to sustain those good feelings and that positive flow.

Just in the last few years, the answers have finally come together for me. My background (30+ years of experience in personal growth and development, people management, business growth and development, and lots of formal training) got saturated with several recent years of studying the Abraham-Hicks work and a very intense year of studying Human Design.

And......voila!

I pieced together what seem to me to be THE five key components for having a life that truly works--a life that you love regardless of your life's circumstances.

Essential Ingredient 1 – Self-Knowledge

Before you can begin to have a deeply satisfying life, you need to know who you are. Beyond standard “strengths and weaknesses” you also want to understand your key personality traits and learning styles, your life lessons and biggest challenges, your recurring life themes, and where you have potential for great wisdom.

You definitely want to know where you hold your deepest pain and how to overcome it. And you need to know your greatest sources of blessings, growth and expansion, so you can maximize those and create great advantage for yourself at every opportunity.

This is why a Human Design Reading is the starting point for all of my coaching work and services. Human Design provides astounding depth and insights into who you are and how you are “wired.”

Essential Ingredient 2 – Clarity of Purpose and Direction

Knowing who you are isn’t complete without knowing where you are going. When you know with confidence why you are here—your life purpose—then your direction is usually clear.

Often, people feel confused about knowing “what they want” in life. It’s usually because they don’t have a clear picture of their bigger purpose or mission. Some people know their purpose from a young age, but for others it takes time and a deliberate process to uncover it.

It took me a while to find this clarity, so I’m very patient with clients who haven’t found theirs yet. And I've developed both tools and skills to help you find YOUR passion and clarify your mission.

Essential Ingredient 3 – Aligned Behavior

Once you know yourself clearly, accurately and honestly, and you know where you’re going, then you can learn how to interact with the world in the most effective and successful way possible to get you there.

Using Human Design, you learn a decision-making and action-taking strategy that is specifically correct for YOU. This enables you to improve your choices, your relationships, your work performance, and your personal well-being. Thus, your behaviors finally (and easily) line up with who you are and where you truly want to go in life.

Essential Ingredient 4 – Empowering Beliefs

Self-knowledge, clarity of purpose, and appropriate behavior are necessary but not sufficient ingredients for having what you want in life. If you don’t believe that you can have and deserve to have what you want, then no amount of Law of Attraction seminars and self-help books will bring it to you.

Using a variety of techniques and teachings, I've learned how to replace limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs. Empowering beliefs allow you to receive what you’ve asked for. You experience a life-size paradigm shift when you put empowering beliefs in the forefront and weed out old beliefs that no longer serve you.

Essential Ingredient 5 – Inspired Action

If you are a true spiritual master you might be able think and believe your results into being, but the rest of us need to “move the mud” down here in our three-dimensional reality.

But just “taking action” isn’t sufficient either. Through knowing your unique Human Design, you can learn how to take action correctly...for YOU. Correct action is inspired action. That’s when everything flows, synchronicities happen, and you just go along for the beautiful ride. This is not only possible, but predictable, when you live your life according to your Human Design Strategy and apply the previous four ingredients.

And there you have it--my recipe for a successful and fulfilling life!

It sure is serving me well. I've never felt more purposeful, more fulfilled, and more excited about the future.

My mission and passion in life is to empower people with information and self-knowledge that enriches their life experience. All that I've done so far in my life has prepared me for right now, and for being able to serve others with all that I have learned. Life is good. And I love sharing that and spreading it around as much as I can.

Warmly,

Evelyn

Would You Like REAL Solutions for a Better Life, More Wealth, and Greater Health?

If you are like me—and most of my clients—you want to have a better life…no matter how good (or bad) yours already is.

And you’re probably looking for answers, working at improvements, and generally going for it to make it happen.

The good news is that no matter how good your life already is, it can still get better. I thought that was great news when I first learned it. There is no limit to how wonderful your life can be!

The not-so-good news is that many of the programs, systems, and “answers” out there—which are designed to help us—don’t really work very well. At least I haven’t seen consistent results, nor have my clients.

Why Most Systems Don’t Work

Here’s my theory about why they don’t work: because each one of us is SO different from everyone else.

Any system will work for the person who created it because it came from his or her own successful experience with it. But that system does NOT apply equally well to the rest of us.

Have you ever listened to a motivational speaker or other successful person and felt all fired up about changing your life and following their approach to achieving power and wealth? Then you find a few days later that you’ve run out of steam and what looked so easy to do then, isn’t easy for YOU at all. I know I have.

Human Design Does Work

But all of that changed for me when I learned about my unique Design as a human being. Imagine having a detailed blueprint that shows exactly how you are configured—how you’re hard-wired!

Human Design is uncanny in its accuracy, its insights, and the very practical nature of what you learn from it. Every Reading I have done has profoundly resonated with that person. And it’s made a huge difference in my own life.

Now that I know with confidence what my personal energetic blueprint is AND how I can best interact with the world to maximize my success (and my sense of fulfillment!), the struggle that I experienced all of my life is GONE. My uncertainty about how to proceed is GONE.

Also GONE is that nagging question in the background, “what’s wrong with me…why can’t I do things and be successful like I see other people do?” Now I know the right way for ME to do those things and be successful in life.

Click here to learn more about Human Design.

Are You Struggling in Your Relationships?

Not only does Human Design provide answers about who YOU are and how YOU can have a better life, it also gives you vital information about the people around you. HUMAN DESIGN WILL IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS. Period.

Just this morning a client told me that she was getting along much better with her long-time boyfriend since her Human Design Reading because she was no longer expecting him to be different than he is. And she was no longer expecting herself to be different than she is. This may sound simplistic, but just that shift had a profound impact on her self-esteem and on her most significant relationship.

Here’s Why I’m Writing Today

You probably already know that I offer private Full Human Design Readings that provide 3 hours of personalized interpretation of your Human Design Chart.

And that I recently began offering Condensed Readings which provide 1 hour of personalized chart interpretation plus a 100-page ebook about Human Design including over 10 hours of embedded audio instruction.

What is NEW is an 8-week telecourse that I am teaching about Human Design. It’s called Life By Design. And you can participate from the comfort of your home via weekly group telephone calls.

If you’re tired of not getting the results you want in your life; frustrated because you know you have more potential than you’re living out; struggling with your relationships; or simply want feel happier and more fulfilled, this Course can change your life.

During the Life By Design course, you will learn:

· Your unique energy blueprint and how if affects your life and relationships

· Your unique and powerful decision-making strategies and how to know (and get!) exactly what you want

· Your personal learning style and how nothing you’ve done has really been a “mistake” (it was just YOUR learning process!)

· How knowing your Human Design can improve your health, wealth, relationships, career and more

· How to understand and accept other people, and how to relate to them in the most effective way possible

· How to stop struggling and easily step into the naturally abundant FLOW of life

· Your unique working pattern and how this can help you create your dream job and career

· Parenting strategies to help you support and nurture your children and grandchildren

· How to stop leaping after every next new thing and stay focused

· Simple steps to raise your self-esteem and discover your unlimited personal value

· How to permanently get “unstuck” in your life

· And more…

You don’t need to have a private Reading before taking the Course--but I highly recommend it. So I am offering special discounts on combinations of the Course with a Reading to make it easier if you want one.  

It’s not too late to catch this Course. We started Thursday, April 8, and we’re taking the following Thursday off (April 15—tax day). We resume classes on Thursday, April 22—so there is still time to register and catch up.

Each class is recorded, so you’ll always have access to all of the classes. If you need to miss a class or two, you can catch up before the next class!

Click here to read about the Course on my website and to see special discounts on combining the Course with a private Reading!

Learning YOUR unique Human Design strategy will help you stop suffering and begin thriving in your life! 

To your joy, vitality and success!

Warmly,

Evelyn

P.S. If Human Design--and the benefits that it provides--calls to you, I invite you to consider the value of applying the Life By Design telecourse to your life.