Created By Life's Experiences

Sometimes when you walk through life it feels like you are walking alone. Many around you don't seem to understand where you are coming from or where you are going. If anything, most do not seem to share the same passion you do of focusing on what matters in life.

It can be difficult to stay the course when it feels like you are on your own. It can be difficult to stay the course when it feels like you are the only one that gets the importance of things unseen. None of these moments are easy. It takes great courage and strength to stand up in the midst of prevailing winds.

For much of my life, I cursed what life had thrown at me. I cursed the fact that I was so highly sensitive. I struggled to understand, why me! It did not seem fair or just that I would have to live with the experiences of child sexual abuse. It did not seem fair that I would have to endure the hell of it and then heal from these parts of life.

Yet, I now am beginning to see this differently. If you would have told me what I am about to say a few years ago, you would have been taking your life into your own hands. Not only was this unfathomable but so full of pain, that it would have felt like a knife being stabbed and twisted in my heart.

You see, for the first time in my life, I realize that all these experiences I have been through have made me into who I am. As horrible as they were, I would not be the person I am, full of compassion, insight and purpose. Would I liked to have gone through life without this? The answer is YES! But I know that these challenges are making me into a human full of awareness, skills, abilities, sensitives, and compassion.

So as hard as it is for me to sometimes see the big picture, I know that I have been shown a different side of life. I know that I have walked through experiences that few truly understand. However, with the purpose I have in my life, I am glad I am who I am. It gives me great courage to take the steps I need to take in life.

(c) Don Shetterly 11/29/10 - Use by permission only.

MD Anderson Cancer Center Labyrinth

Today, I went to a class at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando on labyrinths. While I had already walked this labyrinth two times before, I wanted to learn much more about them and understand a little more what is behind this spiritual tool. My friend, Trish Kalhagen does labyrinth workshops and until she started doing them, I knew nothing about labyrinths. Of course, up until 6 months ago, I did not even realize MD Anderson Cancer Center existed in Orlando.

One of the things I find very refreshing is that every employee and person I have met in the MD Anderson is so polite, friendly and overall warm and caring. They go out of their way to make you feel good and welcomed and cared about. I have never seen a medical center like this before and it warms my heart that the compassion exists within this center. Many of the people who are patients here are most likely going through some of the most difficult times of their lives.

The class was so informative and I learned a great deal there. This is the first time I have walked the labyrinth with other people present and so it was different. I found myself preoccupied with other people around me and making sure I did not run into them. At the same time, I felt like there were many more around me walking than just the people there. The instructor, Jeanne Miller-Clark, told us that as many times as she has walked a labyrinth, no two times were the same. In the 3 times I have done this, I can definitely agree with her.

As we walked today, I almost tuned out everything going on around me or any noise, if there was any present. I felt like I was off in a world disconnected from everything going on, even the traffic on the street. Sometimes I am not able to do that but today I could.

When I first started out on the walk, I focused on my breathing as I like to do. It helps me center myself in my body and in the present moment. Almost immediately I began to hear the communication that I get very frequently now and while it was very distinct, it was very simple in what was being said to me. As I began to ponder the question on my mind walking into the labyrinth, I realized that the communication I was receiving was helping me find the answers I was looking for. It brought tears to my eyes and made my heart feel so warm.

As I reached the center of the labyrinth, I could feel so much being shown to me, and my understanding of the answers to my question were making sense. At the center, I just paused for several moments taking in all that I was getting. It was a beautiful moment filled with peace and love and connection.

Once I began to walk back out of the labyrinth, I noticed that my steps were easier, my breathing much more relaxed, and my pace had picked up. I felt a smile on my face coming from a joy within me and I felt like I could go jump 500 feet into the air. I felt so connected, so peaceful and just like I was doing what I needed to do at this moment in time. It was so healing to just feel all of what I was taking into my life.

I am now hooked on labyrinths. They are special places to me to help take myself deeper into my own awareness and consciousness. I know that if I stop and slow down - look, listen, and feel - that is where I will find my truth and the core of who I am. There is something about allowing myself to walk through the labyrinth that just gives me a moment of stepping back and connecting within.

From my own work that I do and the table-work that I experience, I understand this. Yet, what sometimes seem so difficult to get to in life is not as difficult as I make it out to be sometimes. Where this experience will take me, I'm not completely sure and I'm fine with not knowing the answer to these questions. All I know is that there is a connection between me and the labyrinth and in some way, I feel there is a connection between myself and the cancer center. I cannot explain that one, but I know what I feel inside.

If you have never walked a labyrinth, I urge you to give it a try. You can find labyrinths through the labyrinth locator and most likely there is one close to you. There is no right way or wrong way to walk the labyrinth. Just step in and follow the path to the center and then follow the path back out. As you go in, you may want to ponder a question or think about a concern you have. Then as you come back out from the center, integrate what you have learned. I find it helpful to journal about my experience because it helps me integrate more what has happened.

Further Reading:
1) My First Time Walking The Labyrinth (Jun 28, 2010)
2) Labyrinth Communication From Angles (Nov 16, 2010)


(c) 12/1/10 by Don Shetterly - Use by permission only

Ask Questions Within

From page 10, Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley: "I'm stunned by how few people ask the bigger questions for themselves about who they really are and what they can really do with their lives. Even professional people who've mastered their trade - doctors, lawyers, bankers, butchers, bakers or candlestick makers - often still march in lockstep with their parents and forefathers, adopting the same ideologies and spiritual beliefs as if there were no other option. If they would just take the time to apply their brilliance by going within and asking some questions about the areas of their lives that aren't working, they could literally astound themselves."

I know from personal experience that it is easy to just follow in the footsteps of how you were raised and then continue believing the same concepts and ideals well into your adult life. In fact, much of the media and political functions of today use these things to their advantage while the the mindless humans trod along as willing accomplices. We often fail to see the differences between our beliefs and what is actually real to our lives. In mindless ways, we continue to accept that which we are told to be the truth. It becomes the only way we can function in our life.

It would do many of us good to turn the TV off more and spend more time searching within ourselves. Biologically, many humans spend very little time developing their high brain and so these belief systems remain as vital forces in their lives. Listening to others proclaim what is good to know and how to feel and think is not going to evolve the smartest of humans. Only going within and asking yourself the serious hard questions of life will bring about the evolution of an individual and our species.

All of us at some level and in some way follow that which we were taught. It is human nature to start out this way but there comes a time when we need to begin developing our higher brain (the prefrontal cortex) and see there is much more in life. If we feel we have achieved a significant level of awareness, than that should not be a resting point. Instead it should be a launching point into further discover, awareness and evolution for our life.

Please don't accept what I am saying as the entire truth for your life. Instead go in and question everything that I've posted and continue to post. See what works for you and what does not. Test it out and try to prove it wrong or right for your life. Maybe what is written about and what you read today is not something you are ready for in your own life. Maybe it will take time before you are aware of these things. Keep an open mind but go in and ask the hard questions within yourself. For when you do that, you will be astounded!

Further Reading: Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley

(c) 11/28/10 by Don Shetterly - use by permission only