Walking The Labyrinth with Becky Brett
Last week I had the chance to chat with Becky from the Labyrinth podcast. For those who don’t know what a labyrinth is, here’s a simple explanation from WebMD:
“A labyrinth is a pattern of pathways that weave in a circle around a central point. You walk through the pathways to get to the center
Labyrinths are about the journey, at least as much as the destination. They can be calming, as they slow you down while you wind your way through the path.
A labyrinth is not a maze. There is only one way in and one way out, so you don't need to think about where you're going.”
They are often used in spiritual practices for prayer or meditation.
During our conversation, Becky asked me three poignant questions related to the Labyrinth meditation practice:
What have you had to release during this season?
What have you received in its place?
What are you returning with?
What’s beautiful about the podcast format is that Becky describes each episode as walking the Labyrinth with her guests and that is exactly what she does.
With her format, she takes her guests on that same transformative journey one might experience in a labyrinth. It was actually strangely therapeutic.
What’s just sort of funny is that Becky and I have been Facebook friends for around 5 years. We met in a networking group but never met in person. After moving to Southwest Virginia in March, I realized Becky lives here in the same county. When we recorded this podcast last week, we still hadn’t meant in person but the next day ran into each other out front of a coffee shop!
During the interview, I shared about the ways 2019 wrecked me and the incredibly big plans I had to redeem myself in 2020. We talked about the events that led to my move (yes, there was a guy involved 😍 and that scared me BIG TIME!), and the impact Coronavirus has had on my career and personal life.
I also open up about how difficult it has been to throw out my plans and all that I have received in their place.
We then closed out our chat by talking about what we want to intentionally move forward with as we head back to “normal.” Something that I would encourage everyone to take some time to process.
You can listen to the interview here or search your podcast app for “Virtual Executive Director: The Labyrinth”
Here is a sneak peek at some of my favorite parts of the discussion:
I didn’t set out to solo travel on purpose. I started traveling solo because everyone else fell through… You reach a point where you have to ask, “Am I worth doing this thing even when my friends can’t get their act together?” When I reached that point, my answer was, “I think I still am…” And so I decided to go for it.
When you solo travel you don’t have someone to distract you and you get to/have to be alone with yourself and feel your feelings. Sometimes that’s intimidating but you wrestle with those feelings and come out stronger and healthier on the other side.
In reference to the idea that solo travel is just people running away from their problems:
You can’t run away from grief. It doesn’t disappear based on geographical location but it allows you to pull yourself away from the physical triggers and make room for processing the emotions.
We “should” all over ourselves and then wonder why we’re depressed.
-Becky
I am using this time to hone in on what I want to be doing and how exactly I want to use my energy. I want to intentionally make decisions about this before someone else makes them for me.
As the world starts putting things back on us, as they do, we have to be intentional about whether we choose to accept the thing they try to hand us. We can say, “No, thanks! I am good. My hands are full with what I have chosen to carry and I am going to do this instead.” Otherwise you take that thing they want to give you and what are you now dropping from what you wanted to carry?
To check out the full conversation, if for nothing else you’ll get some juicy gossip about my love life. Check out the podcast here!