The Labyrinth

Yet another article popped up on my LinkedIn this week reminding that we are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, and highlighting that it is a professional as well as personal concern.  If connections require repeated, prolonged, informal interaction in order to bloom into meaningful friendships, then t he shift to hybrid and remote work is just one of many factors in our workplaces and larger society that are contributing to increased social isolation among working adults. What to do about it? The Surgeon General’s recent diagnosis of loneliness as a public health crisis highlights that this is a structural problem, not simply an individual one. But for those who are suffering now, structural change is going to be—and feel—really slow. As a mid-life, mid-career professional, I wanted to share here what has worked for me—well 3 things that have worked, in combination, and 1 thing that was just a good try. My story and these tips won’t be relevant for everyone, but...

I am obsessed with labyrinths. In fact, the labyrinth has become for me a symbol of my life’s journey and of my current career transition.  As a tool for mindful or spiritual practice, the winding labyrinth reminds me of the deep, abiding cyclical time that underlies the unraveling of our days and that undergirds the linear trajectory of our lives and histories. The rising and setting sun, the seasons, the grand cycles of life and death. We spiral back around so many times ( To everything, turn, turn, turn, There is a season, turn, turn, turn ), growing and evolving to new layers of understanding as we go. I love that a labyrinth, an ancient meditative aid, is not a maze. It's not a puzzle to be solved. It has no dead ends. When you hit an end, it's actually a turn, re-orienting you in a new direction. And almost none of the walking is in a bee-line towards the center, but rather it weaves back and forth, slowly winding closer. So for much of the journey, my internal compass te...