The Contrary Way - Day 1

[suekenney]

Day 1
Choosing to be on a journey.

The Contrary Way - A 30 Day Inspirational Guide for the journey back to yourself.

Before we can accomplish anything in life, we first must choose. Sometimes we make the decision or it's made for us, but in the end it is a choice. Have you chosen to be on this life journey? If you haven't, chances are good that you will be walking around in circles and won't go anywhere.

The night before I left Santiago in June 2010 to embark on yet another pilgrimage on the Camino, I remember questioning my choice. "Why didn't I just go on a cruise to continue on my spriritual path?" I asked. My Answers were clear. I don't even like cruises. I love to walk. I love to meet pilgrims. I love hearing and telling stories. I am at peace in nature. I was called to retrace the steps I took 9 years ago to complete my journey back home. Most importantly, I am a pilgrim. It's something I am being in the world. Walking is what pilgrims do.

Have you asked yourself what are you being in the world? Are you being a Mom? Are you being a Teacher? Are you being a Neighbour? Are you being a Writer? Write down what you are being right now and then write down what you want to be in the world. You don't have to do anything yet. Just close your eyes and imagine being that and it happens. It's magic.

Today you can start a journey back to yourself by being whatever you choose.

Suseya!

Love and light,

Sue

Tomorrow: How heavy is your backpack?

Sue Kenney is the author of the Canadian Best-selling book My Camino

presently in development as a feature film.

http://www.suekenney.ca/

Facebook Suseya

Twitter CaminoPeregrina

mycaminobook@gmail.com

 

[Caminando]

Day 1
Write down what you are being right now and then write down what you want to be in the world. You don't have to do anything yet. Just close your eyes and imagine being that and it happens. It's magic.

Today you can start a journey back to yourself by being whatever you choose.

Hi Sue

I really like how you have extended the metaphor of pilgrimage into your life after your camino. That can be harder than the walk itself.

I disagree with your sentiments above, however. They're not at all realistic, to say the least.

 

[suekenney]

Hey, I'm writing to open possibilities for myself and others to be clear about what you believe so you can be that in the world. So glad you don't agree. Keep walking your own path pilgrim.

Love and light,
Sue

 

[Caminando]

Hey, I'm writing to open possibilities for myself and others to be clear about what you believe so you can be that in the world. So glad you don't agree. Keep walking your own path pilgrim.

Love and light,
Sue

Hi Sue

Yes, being clear is so important.

I'm still unsure though about your insight. Is it effective for everybody? ; for most people? I mean closing your eyes, and imagining, and it happens?

I always walk my own path Sue, If asked, I advise others to do so too, and that they avoid large groups and commercial groups.

Thanks for your Love and light in these troubled times

 

[Kitsambler]

I think Sue is referring to the value of visualizing a goal. It surely helps to visualize it first! This is not oddball thinking - it's fairly standard in the self-improvement genre. (There's an old saw about "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?")

That being said, it may not work for everyone. Some can't visualize, some find goals unhelpful. I'm sure there are enough different readers of this forum, and enough different experiences, and enough different approaches to life, to realize the information posted here is an offering, rather than a directive.

 

[Caminando]

I think Sue is referring to the value of visualizing a goal. It surely helps to visualize it first! This is not oddball thinking - it's fairly standard in the self-improvement genre. (There's an old saw about "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?")

That being said, it may not work for everyone. Some can't visualize, some find goals unhelpful. I'm sure there are enough different readers of this forum, and enough different experiences, and enough different approaches to life, to realize the information posted here is an offering, rather than a directive.

Hi Kit

I didn't mention oddball thinking, nor a directive.

 

[suekenney]

Actually, there is no right or wrong way. It is about visualizing but even taking that a step further, I believe that being what you are or want to be in the world is a state. It's not just seeing it in your minds eye, but also being it in every cell of your body. Once you decide to be something, then you do what that entails. We become pilgrims first, then we physically walk the Camino.

No it doesn't work for everyone. It's just one approach.

Glad to stir up some conversation. Today I talk about having an open mind. Now that's a discipline.

Peace on your journey.
Sue
http://mycaminojourney.blogspot.com

 

[Caminando]

Actually, there is no right or wrong way. It is about visualizing but even taking that a step further, I believe that being what you are or want to be in the world is a state. It's not just seeing it in your minds eye, but also being it in every cell of your body. Once you decide to be something, then you do what that entails. We become pilgrims first, then we physically walk the Camino.

No it doesn't work for everyone. It's just one approach.

Glad to stir up some conversation. Today I talk about having an open mind. Now that's a discipline.

Peace on your journey.
Sue
http://mycaminojourney.blogspot.com

Probably I've misread it, but I'm not sure if this is the same as "imagining something and it happens". I could be wrong but I think of those in desperate trouble and in appalling situations which have been inflicted on them; then I think of offering the advice to imagine your way out of this. They might justifiably seize me by the throat. As you say, it's not for everyone.

Funnily enough, I walked the Camino first, and then became a pilgrim.

Buen camino

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I have got to go with Sue on this one, at least philosophically. Think about pain. It exists only in the mind. Nerve impulses are sent to the brain, which then interprets it as an excruciating sensation, as in "that steering column just crushed my chest." In in reality, it is only electrical impulses. The pain itself is entirely in the "imagination," even as a limb is severed. The physical trauma is "real," but not the pain. You could imagine the pain, and it would be as real as an actual event. If we knew how, and we do know how using anesthesia, we could avoid pain just by imagining the electrical impulses as pleasurable.

On a practical level, though, I do not think all the imagining in the world would make me a golfer with the skill of Tiger Woods. I would help me become the best golfer I was capable of being, which is what Sue is talking about.

 

[Caminando]

If we knew how, and we do know how using anesthesia, we could avoid pain just by imagining the electrical impulses as pleasurable.

On a practical level, though, I do not think all the imagining in the world would make me a golfer

Thanks Falcon, for these thoughts from your keen avian brain. Interesting ideas you raise.

You refer to "imagining electrical impulses as pleasurable"; but would you want to say that to the prisoner being subjected to high voltage? We must all be realistic in these matters and avoid philosophising too much.

You've hit the nail on the head when you speak of being "practical". That's what I want to hear!

Buen camino!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Practical? Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything. I prefer the philosophical.

But as to the practical, anesthesia would pretty much make torture moot, right? All anesthesia does is induce a coma. In a coma, the electrical impulses are just that, electrical impulses, which is all they ever were. Pain does not exist because the brain is not able to process such a concept. Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) is a rare disease which causes one to lose their feeling of pain. It is all in the mind.

 

[Caminando]

Practical? Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything. I prefer the philosophical.

But as to the practical, anesthesia would pretty much make torture moot, right? All anesthesia does is induce a coma. In a coma, the electrical impulses are just that, electrical impulses, which is all they ever were. Pain does not exist because the brain is not able to process such a concept. Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) is a rare disease which causes one to lose their feeling of pain. It is all in the mind.

Yes, some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Too true!
But if you are ever waterboarded, just think - "it's all in the mind"!
Except for blisters when on the camino - they're all on the feet :wink:

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I have been waterboarded back when it was considered torture, but just for practice! The original point, though, was whether imagination was useful in attaining a goal. Since it all is an internal process, philosophically it is subject to control. Many practitioners of meditation claim to control pain. Hypnosis has been used successfully in place of anesthetics. Sue makes a valid point, which you do not seem to endorse, that if you can imagine it, you can do it. Given a little artistic license, again which you not seem to endorse using a very literal interpretation of her words, I think she is right.

 

[gregpickworth]

Hi

in 2001 i walked the french way ... was the best time........then 2002 the dep plata from Seville ....... couldnt redo the magic.......

..... on 1st April i am going to do the walk back to myself...... taking the northern path....

i liked what you said about going back.... greg

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Seems like some people took on the "contrary" part as a personal mission! :lol:

 

[suekenney]

Probably I've misread it, but I'm not sure if this is the same as "imagining something and it happens". I could be wrong but I think of those in desperate trouble and in appalling situations which have been inflicted on them; then I think of offering the advice to imagine your way out of this. They might justifiably seize me by the throat. As you say, it's not for everyone.

Of course I struggle with your example. If we can "be" something in our minds and then act on it we will get a result. It might not be what we want but something will happen. In the situation where a person can be what they dream but they can't act because they have no choice, now that makes my heart ache. Though there is one thing no one can take away from you and that is hope and the idea that hope itself exists.

Being in your mind what you believe is possible, is hope. And that is a choice.
A lot of miracles have happened in the world because someone, who may have been in desperate trouble of an appalling situation, made hope a choice.

Love and light,
Sue

 

[Caminando]

It can be called "a personal mission" or even a missionary position, but it can also be called discussion about a very contentious issue. I'm happy that Falcon who usually has good stuff to say has offered his disagreement and taken the issue into unexpected areas, where he has a point.

There is a school of thought, at its worst in the 19th century, which says that we are all responsible for our situations/solutions. I don't agree with such a stonyhearted outlook, nor with some of the arguments for such an outlook. Would anyone care to rewrite the Samaritan story according to the "imagining" theme? I doubt it, unless it was a Monty Python sketch. I'm certain and I know, that none of you here would offer such a solution to someone in trouble or need.

Pilgrims! Save your stones for the Cruz de Ferro or another day! I am unbowed :wink: :lol:

My lovelies!
Buen camino

 

[Deleted member 3000]

There is a school of thought ... which says that we are all responsible for our situations/solutions. I don't agree with such a stonyhearted outlook, nor with some of the arguments for such an outlook.

I cannot think of who might say that outside events don't affect our lives, but I personally do not see the point of blaming others or events for every situation I am in. However, the solutions are mostly our responsibility. Joint action often is often the most successful solution, but that takes individual responsibility, too. I will presume in advance that this point is one of the "some of the arguments" with which you might agree (perhaps using some imagination)!

Never let facts get in the way of a firmly held opinion in order to remain unbowed.

 

[Caminando]

My dear feathery viajero :wink:

You freely speak of the "pleasures of electrocution" and your voluntary experience of being waterboarded, "just for practice" of course. On reading this, I confess to an emotion, not of fear and loathing (a la Hunter Thompson) but rather of fear and a tingly frisson of admiration. These are unusual and may I say, brave experiences you've had, to which I could never aspire.

Then I thought - is this necessarily a bad thing?; no! for it surely depends on context. For example, if someone were an hospitalero with these experiences, they could be ideal for managing 5 a.m. plastic bag rustlers, early alarm clock users, costume pilgrims and (for the atonal), bagpipers :wink: :lol: . Just the thought of what could be done to these offenders would spike their infernal, sleep destroying guns!

:wink: :lol:

I liked what you said above about imagination. Without that, there would be no Chartres, and no Challenger rocket either. I remember often motorcycling from the north and seeing the magnificent, stunning Chartres cathedral rising out of the plains, carrying all the hopes and aspirations and imaginings of a civilisation -just like the Space Shuttle at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy. There's even a fleeting resemblance. But I digress - again.


On a more practical note, I hope you can find time to post your photos/text etc of your recent Vezelay walk. Should be a good one.

Ultreia e suseia