08/19/2026
On this day last year. I was invited to walk a labyrinth. I will be forever grateful to my beautiful soul friends who introduced me and to our soul sister who opened her sacred space to us. 🌼🫶
Creative writing brings me joy. Peace ✌️
A Year Later:
“I Chose Freedom.
On this day last year, I walked a labyrinth.
I walked in with my burdens, my pain, my stories, my fears, my limited beliefs, and all the ways I had learned to carry suffering.
I carried the grief of it all.
The grief of what was lost.
The grief of what was never given.
The grief of what I had endured.
The grief of the parts of myself I had silenced along the way.
And as I walked, I laid it all down.
I asked for help.
And in that sacred space, I felt connected to something much greater than myself.
I felt the presence of the ancestors.
And in that moment, I understood something deeply:
They want to be remembered.
They want to be forgiven.
And they want us to forgive.
For me, forgiveness became a doorway.
I began to understand how much of my own suffering had been tied to what I had continued to carry. The resentment. The bitterness. The disappointment. The regret. The grief of it all. The stories I kept telling myself about what should have been.
And that day, I forgave.
Not because everything that happened was okay.
Not because I forgot.
Not because every door needed to be reopened.
I left the labyrinth with forgiveness in my heart. For the first time I could see past my own pain. I could see what could be. The possibilities.
I forgave because I wanted to be free.
And then I rose.
I began taking charge of my life.
I began feeling healthier.
I began using my voice.
I began speaking up for myself, even when it wasn’t comfortable, even when it didn’t look pretty to someone else, even when someone misunderstood me.
But I committed to doing it with love.
With honesty.
With transparency.
With integrity.
And that is where I stand today.
Not because I have figured everything out.
Not because I will never walk through darkness again.
But because I know myself now.
I know my shadow.
I know my strength.
I know what I have healed.
And I know there is still work to do.
I am a shadow walker.
I can walk into places of pain, grief, fear, and darkness, and I can sit there without becoming them.
And I can walk back into the light.
Because I know now that the light isn’t something outside of me that I have to find.
I am the light.
And that doesn’t mean I live in bliss every moment.
It means I have the freedom and the tools to experience all of it.
The grief.
The joy.
The laughter.
The tears.
The weirdness.
The wildness.
The silence.
The love.
The shadow.
The light.
I have the freedom to be me.
I don’t need everyone to understand me.
I don’t need everyone to like me.
I don’t need to make myself smaller so someone else can feel comfortable.
I am here to live.
To love.
To create.
To laugh.
To speak.
To choose.
To experience this one extraordinary life.
And I want to cherish it.
I want to bask in it.
I want to be present for the little moments.
Because I know now that life will bring waves.
And I don’t need to be afraid of the waves.
I am strong enough to ride them.
Nothing outside of me has to change for me to experience freedom.
The circumstances may remain.
The people may remain.
The world may remain.
But when something changes inside you…
everything changes.
A year ago, I walked into a labyrinth and laid my burdens down.
Today, I stand here knowing who I am.
Knowing what I have healed.
Knowing what I have survived.
Knowing what I am here to do.
And what am I here to do?
To live.
To love.
To serve.
To create.
To walk in my truth.
And most of all…
to live in joy.
So I will keep walking.
I will keep choosing.
I will keep speaking.
I will keep forgiving.
I will keep doing the work.
And when the next wave comes, I will meet it.
With an open heart.
With both feet on the Earth.
With my ancestors behind me.
With Spirit beside me.
And with the deep knowing that I am never who I used to be.
I am who I choose to become.
I am free.🦅
Aho.” ♥️🪶
Lori Ann Burns- Bolden, RMT
Holistic Shaman LLC - The Healing Ground 🌻
