Well here are a few hard things about Maui: gas is $3.58 a gallon, milk is $9.00 for a gallon and I looked at getting a red pepper in the supermarket and it would have been over $2.00. The cost of living is 27% higher than Seattle (found that on a website)! And we who come from Seattle know how high it is for us. The largest crime on the island is breaking and entering – cars and houses.
Now back to the good stuff. I have stopped watch the weather on TV since it is the same every day! Where I am staying is at the junction of the wetter part of the island and drier part so almost every afternoon since I have been here there has been a brief light shower while the sun is out sooooo …. I have seen 4 rainbows! They are so magical and I hopeful. I know now why the Hawaiian license plate has a rainbow on it.
On my journey this year I have had the chance to find a number of Labyrinths. I have walked them in Sedona, AZ and Galveston, TX and now Maui!
A labyrinth is a spiritual tool, a body prayer, a walking meditation, and a mystical experience. The motif is unique to the gothic Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral located 42 miles southwest of Paris and dating to 1220 A.D. There an ancient 42-foot diameter labyrinth is embedded in the paving stones of the nave floor. Nota bene, a labyrinth is not a maze. There are no forks in the road or confusing dead ends. The labyrinth is unicursal. The path never crosses over itself and culminates in only a single cul-de-sac, the goal at the center. To walk a labyrinth one simply enters and follows the meandering course to the center; pauses to meditate; then retraces the exact path out, from the sacred to the everyday world.
There are five labyrinths on Maui. One at an Orchid Garden, one at a Catholic school, one at an Episcopal Church and two built from white coral overlooking the ocean. I have been to two so far and have plans to see and walk another today and then the two coral ones soon. Visiting them and walking the meditations gives me a focus for the day and feels very grounding.
While I am occasionally lonely here (there are lots of honeymoon type couples around the resort areas) I know that this is a resting spot for me. Thanks to all of your who answer and listen when I call- especially when I tell you it is sunny here and raining where you are.
