When I was seventeen, this St. Jude medallion was given to me by a dear high school friend soon after my father’s firefighting accident that left him a paraplegic. That November tragedy disintegrated my family unit with a single blow. Somehow… St. Jude has managed to stick by me all these years and this past summer I created this chaplet for him with nine-million-year-old Connamarra beads and a jade Tibetan knot at the other end.
St. Jude is who you petition when you are faced with impossible circumstances. This beloved kin of Christ and Mary, who is also known as the Green Man, holds great mystery and assistance in making the impossible, possible. My recent Novena to him was in asking for help in holding the internal tension of opposites that I’ve been grappling with. And to help us all navigate the opposites in the world that we face. My list is long, as is probably yours…

On day five of the Novena, the middle day, I received some news that greatly diminished my internal tensions. I was also reminded… that twenty-years ago when completing my dissertation that I was also given a means of navigating opposites and finding the way through them to discover what really matters to my heart. I went back to what I had written then and share it with you here now.

I hope it is of help to you today and in the days to come.

**-Short Version-**
**The Labyrinth Process: What Matters To Your Heart**

When you have only a small amount of time…

1\. Place your hands over your heart. Breathe into this space.
2\. Ask: What really matters to my heart? If I could have anything, no matter how small or big, what would that be? Just a one-word answer will work.
3\. Next, ask to know what is the opposite of my heart’s desire? What is keeping me from what I truly desire? Again, a one-word answer will work.
4\. Hold both of these opposite images in your mind’s eye, equally. Then, take at least three, or more, deep breaths into your heart and hands while thinking of these two images/concepts.
5\. Then let them go.
6\. Take another breath and ask to know a third new thing. Be curious as to what will come. A single word or image will work.
7\. Take a few more breaths and be with this new awareness

**-Longer Version-**
**The Labyrinth Process: What Matters To Your Heart?**

**[Contact Lea](http://lea@creativelabyrinths.com)**

To learn, or remember, how to pray the Rosary (non-denominational) please visit: [Way of the Rose: A New Way That Is Really An Old Way](https://wayoftherose.org/)

Santa Rosa Labyrinth for you to print out and use as a finger-labyrinth or to trace with your finger on your device screen.

When you have some time to explore these opposites in more depth using the Santa Rosa design or any other labyrinth you have access to.

**Materials Needed:**

1.A journal & pen or pencil
2.Art materials: paper, colored-markers, pencils, crayons, paints, clay, or any other desired medium.
3.Finger labyrinth (any design will work, the longer the path, the longer the contemplation).
4.Or you can use a permanent or temporary walking labyrinth

The Seven-Steps: What do you want to explore? Or, what problem are you dealing with? Almost anything that comes to mind has an opposite. Take one side and begin.

1.What really matters to my heart? If I could have anything, no matter how small or big, what would that be? Use your journal or art materials to write about this or draw your image, or the colors that represent what matters to your heart. What shape, form, color, or image would best describe this first exploration of opposites?
2.What gets in the way of what matters to my heart? Using a different page of your journal or a second piece of art material, ask to know what is the conflicting polar opposite of my first image? What is keeping me from my heart’s desire? What shape, form, color, or image would this opposite look like?
3.Reflect on the conflict or struggle between these two images, or concepts while walking, or finger-walking the labyrinth. Keep your mind focused on both of them and don’t linger more on one or the other.
4.When you reach the center of the labyrinth, release these first two images, let them go. Then, ask to know a third new image or concept.
5.Walk, or finger-walk, your way back out of the labyrinth with this new image and/or concept.
6.Use your journal or art materials to create this third newly discovered image or concept in response to the experience of having walked, or finger walked the labyrinth. What shape, form, color, or image emerged for you in the labyrinth?
7.Identify and discuss (if by yourself, journal) any new self-awareness resulting from considering your original focus or exploration of opposites within the whole experience.


If you have any questions or would like for me to be a witness and hold space for you in doing either the short or long versions of this process, please contact me through the following button. This process can be done over the phone, on zoom, or in-person (with social distancing and COVID guidelines).