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Coming Full Circle

APRIL 7, 2010

On March 25th, I had the honor of assisting Rob Harrison and the Sebastopol, CA, [TLC Children & Family Services](http://www.tlc4kids.org/index.html)' staff, board members, clients, and friends in the installation of their
35 by 40 foot Classical Stone Labyrinth.

This was the agency where I did my last internship... before embarking down a different path from the one I started when I entered graduate school. I loved the young adults that I worked with here... their struggles and tenacity forever marked my heart... and has laid a foundation for the work I now do... so it felt like coming full circle in assisting them from where I am now in building their labyrinth.

Part of the movement to make this labyrinth happen was with TLC loosing one of their graduates to the Iraq war. The staff wanted to create a space not only to honor the memory of students who have passed on, but to celebrate and honor the courage and tenacity of the students that attend Journey High School now. They also wanted to assist the students in having the experience of leaving a legacy for students to come.

Here is a poem that one of the kids wrote for the day...

These are yours
These are mine
You have your milestones
And I have mine
You took some risks and did some things
From shooting hoops To growing new wings
You took the risk and jumped the gap
Now you wish you hadn't hit the crack
Got yourself up and brushed it off
Try it again, I think not

You climbed the tree and fell to the ground
You fell in the snow not listening to the sounds
You laid for hours until your feet were numb
But this is just the process of life
from your first crawl to your stride

You chase the butterflies that flutter through the air
you took a flower and put it in your hair
You took the flower and tore the leaves
does he or she really love me?
©TLC Student

A number of Journey High kids read the following milestones...
-There are many different kinds of milestones
-There's hope, the potential of life and living up to that potential
-There are the goals we set and strive to accomplish
-We learn to accept our mistakes and learn not to judge others for their mistakes
-There are moments of happiness
-We have milestones when we overcome our fears, our anger - and we live with integrity
-We learn lessons along the way - how to take action and be responsible for creating the lives
we want to have
-We learn to be honest with ourselves
-We become increasingly independent
-And eventually, we graduate and move forward

Spring rain blessed our endeavors, the placing of river rocks
representing milestones, while we were also being blessed by a Native
American smudging, and the beat of the drums from the drumming circle...
even some blue-bellied lizards came to watch... perhaps we will find
them sunning themselves in the days to come atop the river stones that
grace this lovely and heart-felt labyrinth...

Twenty-Seven Turns Around the Sun

By Lea Goode-Harris • 15 Mar, 2024

twenty-seven turns around and around the sun the moon smiles as well

The Retiring of a Labyrinth

By Lea Goode-Harris • 05 Aug, 2023

Labyrinths provide us with a path to practice change. Some labyrinths have withstood the passage of time for thousands of years. Others are here for just an afternoon, drawn in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Many modern labyrinths were meant to last for years, but because of unforeseen circumstances their time is shorter than intended. And they once again help us to practice letting go and giving thanks for the time they are with us. The Labyrinth of Life at the Sebastopol, California Teen Center reached such place of letting go and is at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter that is yet unknown.

Making A Three Circuit Labyrinth

By Lea Goode-Harris • 05 Aug, 2023

Sometimes... a labyrinth can take years to become a physical reality. In 2018 I met with my friend Deb, to discuss her desire to have a labyrinth on the beautiful land she lives on. Despite our plans and several meetings, listening to the land and finding the right spot, the labyrinth did not come to fruition. Fast-forward five years and in the blink of an eye... it happened!