In the year 2017 I took the first step on a journey that continues to unfold. It was Lent.  A season associated with eating fish on Fridays and giving things up for 40 days, like television or sweets. Penance, I guess. But there is more.

Lent can be a time for renewal, for growth, for trying out new things. In 2017 First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sarasota offered FEAST: friends eating and studying together one day a week during Lent. Lots of choices. I picked the spiritual path course. Coming together for the first week we boarded the church bus and headed for St. Boniface on Siesta Key. There we gathered around their labyrinth, the first I had ever seen.

Labyrinths are ancient. Some say the twisting curves represent the journey of life. Walking this path can be a way to heal, to destress, to meditate and entertain transformation. Walking labyrinths are listed as a choice under alternative therapies along with yoga and Pilates. Grief counselors often recommend walking a labyrinth to clients to help them heal. You get the idea.

A labyrinth is not a maze. You cannot get lost. There is one path winding its way to the center. The same path returns to where you started. One at a time we stepped on the path. Our feet did the walking. It took focus to stay on the path as it circled around, coming close to the center, then far away, then back again and finally standing at the center. Deep breath. Return the way we came.

Afterwards we adjourned to the fellowship hall for tea and cookies. A church member talked about the labyrinth and how she hoped someday to see a labyrinth trail in Florida. I sat up like a bird dog – head up, tail out, catching the scent. Oh yes, I get this. Already written books about walks around Florida.

And so, it began. For a year I walked labyrinths all over Florida, 138 in all and 95 made the cut for my book entitled Circling the Center Labyrinths in Florida. I called that church member and asked to connect for coffee. We met. I said this book was all because of her words that day.

No. That was her response! You don’t understand the nature of call, she said. Call has two parts – call and response. For years she had been issuing the call for a labyrinth trail at public events. Not one response. Until bird dog Lucy showed up, listened, and answered the call. Now you know. There are two parts to call – the call and the response.

Many were called to walk a labyrinth this past Saturday, May 4, on World Labyrinth Day and they responded. It is always the first Saturday in May. The motto is: walk as one at 1 p.m. whatever your time zone. So, a rolling tide of peaceful energy encircled the globe on Saturday.

A friend and I walked the Unity of Venice, Florida labyrinth, stepping on the path at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. The numbers are not in yet but surely that amount of positive energy helped lower the rising trend towards violence that runs through our cultures – labyrinth activism!

Should you wish to walk a labyrinth, start with the worldwide labyrinth locator. Type in your location and see if there are labyrinths in your neighborhood. Or if traveling, look at your destination for labyrinths.

While researching my labyrinth book I met a labyrinth maker who told me he and his wife were in Las Vegas on a tour and the agenda had local suggestions, including walking a labyrinth. That was new. They walked the walk and went looking for more. Just FYI there are seven labyrinths listed in Las Vegas. One thing led to another. Eventually they bought the empty property next to their house here in Florida. His wife gave him a huge pile of rocks as a birthday present – they became the outline of a path for a labyrinth on that next door property.

I invite you to step on the path this summer. Find a labyrinth near you. Walk the walk. Every time it surprises me to realize I am smiling when I finish a labyrinth walk. It is that kind of experience. Go for it.

copyright 2024 Lucy Tobias

www.LucyTobias.com

My guest on Pivot Point today is Dr. Ceil Bare, a Tallahassee resident. She talks about two pivot points in her life - going back to school in her 40s, getting degrees, having a career with Florida State University’s International Programs, and living a dream of being an archaeologist by being part of FSU’s Cetamura excavation in Italy for 25 years - digging up the past. Molto bene!

So, turn up the volume and enjoy today’s podcast.

FYI

The hilltop of Cetamura was home to the Etruscians, Romans and Italians of the Middle Ages. Here is a link:

https://www.cetamuradelchianti.com/

Here is Dr. Ceil Bare on the site, photo from https://www.cetamuradelchianti.com/friends-of-cetamura/#bare

And I would be remiss if I didn’t include this awesome display of camellias, blooming now at her home. The fallen blossoms look like a blanket bouquet.

For more on camillias see this Wednesday Notes blog:

Alan Youngblood joins me for an exciting Pivot Point podcast. He is an amazing photographer both above and below the waterline. Youngblood shares the defining moment in college when he realized his life’s journey would be telling stories visually.

After working for 35 years as a photojournalist and photo editor for the New York Times Regional Group, Halifax Media Group and Gatehouse, Alan is fulltime freelance. Every day is a new day, a new chance to capture the moment visually.

Alan, an Ocala, Florida resident, covers all kinds of genres, news, sports, magazines, underwater, illustrations, video and web pages. Here are several of Alan’s images, more can be found on his website: https://www.alanyoungblood.com

Also in this podcast, you will hear the story of how the glass bottomed boats at Silver Springs came to be cleaned by a group of dedicated divers, including Alan - thank them next time you go for a boat tour!

Here is a link to my recent Wednesday Notes blog about floating along in a Silver Springs glass bottomed boat - and yes, we could see clearly through the glass.

Garland Pollard is the editor of the Boca Beacon and the Gasparilla magazine, both print and online versions, plus a visitors guide, and a phone book - yes there are still phone books! He is my guest on Pivot Point for December, 2023.

Garland, who became editor in November, 2023, shares why comminity newspapers matter and how the Gasparilla Island community supports them. Community newspapers around the country are actually thriving. We eaily forget that good news with hearing and reading all the doom and gloom when it comes to print.

Listen to this podcast and be uplifted - print lives, even thrives, and the Boca Beacon lights up the way.

Note: Episodes of Pivot Point podcast with host Lucy Tobias appear the last Wednesday of every month in Wednesday Notes.

Welcome Carol Rescigno, president of Brady Sarasota United Against Gun Violence.

She is my guest on Pivot Point for November, 2023. You may have seen Brady volunteers standing or sitting at the southern end of the Bayfront, holding signs, on Thursday afternoons from 4-5 p.m. fall and winter - their positive presence proclaiming the need for universal background checks, locking up guns in the home so there is no access by children, banning assault weapons.

This is common sense, you would think. Yet somehow in the current atmosphere this issue has become hard, uphill work, raising awareness, call legislators, standing outdoors with signs, writing letters, holding vigils, forums. Carol shares how this cause became her passion and what we listeners can do.

Here is the national Brady website:

https://www.bradyunited.org/

Photo credit: Brady Sarasota

The Pivot Point podcast, part of Wednesday Notes, comes to you the last Wednesday of every month. All other Wednesdays of the month feature my blog - a written story and photos - Wednesday Notes. Enjoy them all, learn new things, get involved.

copyright 2023 Lucy Tobias

Pivot Point with my guest Lorrie Muldowney, a Sarasota resident and President of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation.

Lorrie shares how starting to run one minute at a time proved to be a pivot point - leading to completing half marathons. And she talks about preservation of the past - not just structures but the memories that go with them. Plus she issues a call to action for you to get involved!

The historic McAlpin house in downtown Sarasota which is threatened by demolition.

Photos: Lorrie Muldowney

Pivot Point podcast comes to you in Wednesday Notes the last Wednesday of each month. If you would like to recommend a future guest with a pivot point story to tell, please contact me. E mail: [email protected]

And have you sent in your name suggestion for the Zen frog in my back garden?

Yes, you can submit MORE THAN ONE NAME. Go for it. Deadline: October 31, 2023. Person submitting winning name receives a signed copy of my book The Zen of Florida Gardening. Winner will be announced in Wednesday Notes, November 1, 2023.

copyright 2023 Lucy Tobias

Photo caption: Julie C. Henry sees surprising things in her book. Photo credit: Lucy Tobias. Location: outside Pastry Art cafe in downtown Sarasota, Florida

Have you ever seen a naked mole rat? No, neither have I. But they have leadership lessons to teach us. Oh yes. Along with spiders, giraffes, sea cucumbers and other denizens of the animal kingdom.

Julie C. Henry, a leadership consultant,  captures lessons learned from being a zoo and aquarium senior leader and shares all in her book Wisdom from the Wild: The Nine Unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the Animal Kingdom. This is a terrific book.  

Just one example: Unbreakable Law #5: Surround yourself with people who are not like you.

(Termite meet giraffe – giraffe meet termite).

Oh my.

Julie is my guest on the September edition my podcast Pivot Point. Listen to her story and be inspired. I am!

Pivot Point podcast comes to you the last Wednesday of each month.

Usually Wednesday Notes is a blog with a story and photos. Today is different - a podcast! Lean in and listen to Jim’s story about land transformed by trees. Jane reads a poem about trees and Jim says these words “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is today”

Oh yes, after listening to this story I am ready to plant a tree!

Here is a photo take by Jane Hunder of some mature trees on their farm in Minnesota