Centering our Intention, Staying the Course

"...we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence."  - Joseph Campbell  Last Thursday UCOD set up a labyrinth at the Vets Center as our sacred offering to Unity's World Day of Prayer. It had been some time since I walked a labyrinth and I was struck by its power as metaphor to illuminate my inward spiritual journey. As I stood at the opening, I contemplated my intention for the walk, asking for the revelation I was seeking in making this journey of many steps. Quite simply, I got the message to seek "my center" - that place of inner balance and equanimity that had recently eluded me. We have been going through a household move in which our outer world has been boxed up and shifted to a new and unfamiliar spaces, leaving me feeling unsettled and off center. So my objective was to find within me that feeling of home in which all was settled and undisturbed. As I began to walk slowly and mindfully, I could feel my body and mind settle into a calmer rhythm. Each mindful step brought focused and purposeful attention to the present moment. I silently uttered the words, I am moving toward my center and I am on my way to peace. I felt so blessed and grateful to return to this state of well-being from which I had felt estranged in recent weeks. Equally impressive was the simplicity of the practice that brought me such a blessed shift in consciousness. Two simple practices combined to manifest this profound change in my mind and heart: Intention and Attention. As long as I kept my intention clearly in my mind and held my attention in the present moment I continually moved ever deeper into a peaceful centering experience. Of course, I did not maintain this focused discipline throughout the walk to the labyrinth center. My human tendency to allow my mind to wander into a variety of other thoughts, visiting past and future happenings, got the better of me several times along the way. In those moments, I could feel myself contracting a bit, moving into body awareness, feeling more vulnerable and off center. Yet, despite my mind wanderings, I managed to keep my feet moving accurately within the marked path ahead of me. I realized that this is the grace of our attempts to carry out our spiritual intentions on earth. It wasn't necessary for me to perfect my attention in order to keep moving in the direction of goal - the centering experience, as long as I held my intention - even in the "back of my mind." This is revelatory to our walk through life. Our focus is not going to be perfect, our attention will be here, and then there, and back to here again. It will waver but we can always bring it back to this present moment, and become mindful of our intention again. Yet even if our attention strays we can make progress as we hold our intention for the larger context of our life journey. For me, my deepest intention in life is to awaken to the truth of who I really am - my truest spiritual identity. Every day I think about that intention at least once. It's the backdrop, the context, the grand milieu of my days and nights. So in the course of a given day, my attention ranges between keen present moment focus, to veritable somnambulism, yet intention is always there like the labyrinth path beneath my feet, guiding my steps, bringing me back to the course that leads me home. Lets know this together, because, we can get so down on ourselves when we feel our spiritual efforts are lacking in discipline and we're inclined to count our missteps. Let's keep it simple and cease condemning our progress and realize how the path is self correcting. Get clear on your intention each day, pay attention to your steps as mindfully as you can. And if you fall asleep to the moment, forgive yourself, and realize that the center of your intention is constantly beckoning and drawing you to itself. Unerringly, God is calling us home. Let that be our intention to remember. The path home is the life before us. Our next step awaits our attention.