inspiredjen
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances (4-2013)
Reverse Camino Frances (5-2016)
Attempted Camino (8-2019)
I want to start this thread for all the people who went on the Camino for more than just adventure -- who went to search their *interior* landscape and returned home with new insight.
I am back only a week now and feel softer at heart than I can ever remember. Even while I was relaxing in Fisterra, after 7 weeks of walking, I knew the Camino had changed me. I feel more trusting of both myself and others. I find myself wanting to live more slowly and deliberately -- as if to mirror the pace I took when I was walking.
Although I've tended to be relatively type-A and historically rather picky, I discovered on the Camino that I can be content in almost any situation. Contentment is a choice, it's an internal state that can be cultivated regardless of the exterior circumstances (rain, cold rooms, 5am bag rustlers, unfamiliar foods). I'm frankly astonished that I lived in some of the places I lived over those 7 weeks, that I walked through some of the places I walked...
I learned that the core of unhappiness in my life is judgment. The moment I judged the bag rustlers, I felt unhappy. The moment I judged another pilgrim's way of walking, I felt unhappy. And the moment I told the truth (ie, this albergue doesn't have the heat on), I felt at peace. It's the judgment ("The albergue SHOULD be heated.") that makes me unhappy. I realized that I've been in constant judgment mode all my life. That I'm constantly saying to myself that things "should" or "shouldn't" be as they are -- so no wonder I've been a ball of stress. On the Camino, I started changing this self-talk and simply accepting things as they are. "My toe hurts." "Those walls have graffiti on them." "I'm am walking with company when I'd rather be alone."
From this place of peaceful inner talk, I just asked myself what I wanted next... and very often the Camino (God/Universe/Spirit) provided that very thing: dry clothes, a warm bed, silence, and most of all love. Of all my insights, I think this one has the power to change my life.
Another thing I realized is that it's okay to ask for and receive help. I learned to ask if my walking buds would remove my hat from my bag. Such a simple thing -- but spared me taking off the pack, unclipping the hat, and putting the pack back on. I did the same for others and their water bottles. In a bar, I unknowingly dropped a glove while paying for a coffee -- and 6 total strangers, all pilgrims, lept from their chairs to rescue it. I was humbled. One day I fell in an unbusy street. When I landed, my pack had me on my back like a turtle, but my buds helped me up, dusted me off, and helped dry my tears of embarrassment. In Galicia, a friend and I went off the path to see a dolmen and 5 separate locals stopped what they were doing to wave us back in the "correct" direction. It was humbling. Help, requested and offered, was a revelation to me. At times, I had to work hard to let it in and at others, I just gaped in grateful astonishment.
Now that I'm back, I'm learning to apply these and other lessons to my "real" life. For example, I'm thinking about the areas where can I receive help and whether I have the people in my life who are willing to offer it.
I'm practicing noticing my judgments and turning them into neutral statements about what is. I want to keep my heart soft and my pace measured. I feel stronger and sexier than I have ever felt (who knew THAT would be a Camino outcome!) and am curious about how to help that grow. I can't say I have it all figured out yet, but I am moving toward a vision for my life that is better than the one I left 8 weeks ago.
Of one thing I'm sure: walking the Camino changed me. And I am eager to bring its lessons into my daily life.
What about you? Were you a spirit-seeker on the Camino? Did something clarify itself? Were there unexpected blessings that changed you?
I am back only a week now and feel softer at heart than I can ever remember. Even while I was relaxing in Fisterra, after 7 weeks of walking, I knew the Camino had changed me. I feel more trusting of both myself and others. I find myself wanting to live more slowly and deliberately -- as if to mirror the pace I took when I was walking.
Although I've tended to be relatively type-A and historically rather picky, I discovered on the Camino that I can be content in almost any situation. Contentment is a choice, it's an internal state that can be cultivated regardless of the exterior circumstances (rain, cold rooms, 5am bag rustlers, unfamiliar foods). I'm frankly astonished that I lived in some of the places I lived over those 7 weeks, that I walked through some of the places I walked...
I learned that the core of unhappiness in my life is judgment. The moment I judged the bag rustlers, I felt unhappy. The moment I judged another pilgrim's way of walking, I felt unhappy. And the moment I told the truth (ie, this albergue doesn't have the heat on), I felt at peace. It's the judgment ("The albergue SHOULD be heated.") that makes me unhappy. I realized that I've been in constant judgment mode all my life. That I'm constantly saying to myself that things "should" or "shouldn't" be as they are -- so no wonder I've been a ball of stress. On the Camino, I started changing this self-talk and simply accepting things as they are. "My toe hurts." "Those walls have graffiti on them." "I'm am walking with company when I'd rather be alone."
From this place of peaceful inner talk, I just asked myself what I wanted next... and very often the Camino (God/Universe/Spirit) provided that very thing: dry clothes, a warm bed, silence, and most of all love. Of all my insights, I think this one has the power to change my life.
Another thing I realized is that it's okay to ask for and receive help. I learned to ask if my walking buds would remove my hat from my bag. Such a simple thing -- but spared me taking off the pack, unclipping the hat, and putting the pack back on. I did the same for others and their water bottles. In a bar, I unknowingly dropped a glove while paying for a coffee -- and 6 total strangers, all pilgrims, lept from their chairs to rescue it. I was humbled. One day I fell in an unbusy street. When I landed, my pack had me on my back like a turtle, but my buds helped me up, dusted me off, and helped dry my tears of embarrassment. In Galicia, a friend and I went off the path to see a dolmen and 5 separate locals stopped what they were doing to wave us back in the "correct" direction. It was humbling. Help, requested and offered, was a revelation to me. At times, I had to work hard to let it in and at others, I just gaped in grateful astonishment.
Now that I'm back, I'm learning to apply these and other lessons to my "real" life. For example, I'm thinking about the areas where can I receive help and whether I have the people in my life who are willing to offer it.
I'm practicing noticing my judgments and turning them into neutral statements about what is. I want to keep my heart soft and my pace measured. I feel stronger and sexier than I have ever felt (who knew THAT would be a Camino outcome!) and am curious about how to help that grow. I can't say I have it all figured out yet, but I am moving toward a vision for my life that is better than the one I left 8 weeks ago.
Of one thing I'm sure: walking the Camino changed me. And I am eager to bring its lessons into my daily life.
What about you? Were you a spirit-seeker on the Camino? Did something clarify itself? Were there unexpected blessings that changed you?