sillydoll
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2002 CF: 2004 from Paris: 2006 VF: 2007 CF: 2009 Aragones, Ingles, Finisterre: 2011 X 2 on CF: 2013 'Caracoles': 2014 CF and Ingles 'Caracoles":2015 Logrono-Burgos (Hospitalero San Anton): 2016 La Douay to Aosta/San Gimignano to Rome:
When I walked my first camino I compiled a list of "intentions" which helped to keep our minds grounded. Since then I have expanded on this list and always give a copy to the people who walk with me.
Would you like to add to it?
Create Camino “intentions” for each day on the trail.
But, before you go:-
Leave your ‘self’ at home: Leave your busy life with all its trappings and hang-ups at home. Before you leave – and while on the path - spend a moment purging your mind of cell phone numbers, appointments, bills to pay, duties, shopping lists, expectations, imagined slights, hurts, worries, sorrows, regrets.
Stand still, eyes closed, arms to your sides. Imagine looking inside your head and seeing a dense, swirling, thick grey smog. Then imagine a fresh breeze blowing all that smog down your arms to your hands, clearing every nook and cranny of dust and pollution, allowing the light in. Shake your hands hard, repeatedly, directing all those negative thoughts into the earth. Just as rain drops carry all the dust and pollution from the air onto mother earth, so can you shake your pollution into the earth too.
Now for the intentions (please add your own and share them with others).
I won’t be judgemental – of the country, the people, their religion, their history, the food, the hospitality, or the other people on the road.
I will be respectful – of the people, the paths, the monuments, the churches i.e. I’ll obey the rules of the land – leave nothing but footprints - and respect the different places visited.
I’ll be open-minded – in order to receive the gifts of the Camino, of its tradition, of the spirituality of the path, I must become like a child with no preconceived ideas of what it should (or should not) be like.
I will listen– clear my mind and listen to the wind in the trees, the birds, the rivers, the rustling in the wheat. I’ll become a part of nature.
I’ll let go – I can’t control the weather so I’ll enjoy the rain. I can’t control the up-hills or the steep descents, so I’ll enjoy walking in the hills. I can’t control my fellow pilgrims so I’ll accept them as they are. I’ll let go and will just be.
I’ll be generous – I will share food, water, blister plasters, the space around the bunk-bed or on the wash line.
I’ll be kind – to my companions, my hosts, the people and places I meet.
I will have positive thoughts – because thoughts become reality. I thought “I would love to walk the Camino” and now it’s happening! and I want to have a positive journey.
I will give thanks – every day, for my good health and resources that have made it possible for the privilege of walking this path and joining an ancient pilgrim stream on the Camino.
I will slow down – I won’t race through the Camino, be in a hurry to move on to the next place or the next bend in the road. I might never pass this way again.
I will be a good ambassador – for my group, for my family, for my country, and an example of a good pilgrim for pilgrims everywhere. I won’t let them down.
Would you like to add to it?
Create Camino “intentions” for each day on the trail.
But, before you go:-
Leave your ‘self’ at home: Leave your busy life with all its trappings and hang-ups at home. Before you leave – and while on the path - spend a moment purging your mind of cell phone numbers, appointments, bills to pay, duties, shopping lists, expectations, imagined slights, hurts, worries, sorrows, regrets.
Stand still, eyes closed, arms to your sides. Imagine looking inside your head and seeing a dense, swirling, thick grey smog. Then imagine a fresh breeze blowing all that smog down your arms to your hands, clearing every nook and cranny of dust and pollution, allowing the light in. Shake your hands hard, repeatedly, directing all those negative thoughts into the earth. Just as rain drops carry all the dust and pollution from the air onto mother earth, so can you shake your pollution into the earth too.
Now for the intentions (please add your own and share them with others).
I won’t be judgemental – of the country, the people, their religion, their history, the food, the hospitality, or the other people on the road.
I will be respectful – of the people, the paths, the monuments, the churches i.e. I’ll obey the rules of the land – leave nothing but footprints - and respect the different places visited.
I’ll be open-minded – in order to receive the gifts of the Camino, of its tradition, of the spirituality of the path, I must become like a child with no preconceived ideas of what it should (or should not) be like.
I will listen– clear my mind and listen to the wind in the trees, the birds, the rivers, the rustling in the wheat. I’ll become a part of nature.
I’ll let go – I can’t control the weather so I’ll enjoy the rain. I can’t control the up-hills or the steep descents, so I’ll enjoy walking in the hills. I can’t control my fellow pilgrims so I’ll accept them as they are. I’ll let go and will just be.
I’ll be generous – I will share food, water, blister plasters, the space around the bunk-bed or on the wash line.
I’ll be kind – to my companions, my hosts, the people and places I meet.
I will have positive thoughts – because thoughts become reality. I thought “I would love to walk the Camino” and now it’s happening! and I want to have a positive journey.
I will give thanks – every day, for my good health and resources that have made it possible for the privilege of walking this path and joining an ancient pilgrim stream on the Camino.
I will slow down – I won’t race through the Camino, be in a hurry to move on to the next place or the next bend in the road. I might never pass this way again.
I will be a good ambassador – for my group, for my family, for my country, and an example of a good pilgrim for pilgrims everywhere. I won’t let them down.