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That's me, too. I still struggle with my high opinion of my opinions, but I'm definitely more accepting and tolerant of others now, thanks in large part to the Camino.I had an embedded teacherly tendency to offer information often when not requested, then realised when walking through Spain how arrogant this could appear... and that here was an experience where there was much for me to learn from others
Sometimes reading posts on various Camino facebook group pages I become actually worried about the pressures some people are putting on themselves to use the Camino to make really large-scale changes to themselves, their faiths, their psychological make-up and well-being, and so on. It's as if they will judge themselves and the Camino as failures if all of these significant life changes do not occur before they finish.
For me, that was where the freedom came in to explore who I was, to put away all the titles and masks I used in the world, and allow ME to show. To be accepted as yourself is the greatest gift you can get, to accept others as they show little snippets of who they really are is a blessing.EDIT: Nobody knew we existed as we walked - we were invisible in a sense; we were simply part of the flow and I think the key to learning was recognizing when someone was offering up a little piece of themselves, and in turn, reciprocating.
Wonderful description.Nobody knew we existed as we walked - we were invisible in a sense; we were simply part of the flow
Thanks to all for these reflections.
I am very pre-Camino (maybe it’s evident in my photo with my dogs!) and sole caregiver for my family member. My goal is to be walking the Camino in one year’s time. I am blessed to be walk/practising with the Vancouver (BC) Camino group and feel so lifted each week. I have splurged and bought the “perfect backpack” which hangs on my bedpost.
I know that whether I walk the Camino or not, my training, preparation, learning will realign my being. However, times like today, my heart's longing feels out of reach. I pray for the strength and balance to be open to the Camino experiences of others and all these rich possibilities... without being wedded to my dream of actually walking.
Buon Camino... however you say it and spell it!
Thank you for your welcome and encouragement.Hi Jo Anne and welcome to the forum! I wanted to encourage you - one thing I'm learning these days is that there is so much blessing in respecting our limits. Right now you're caring for a loved one and you can't fulfill your wish of walking the Camino. For you, that's your limit, and you're respecting it. Settling in to a limit and being perfectly content with it - well, that can be a bit harder. But when the time is right, you'll come over and walk, and it will be a good thing. Enjoy all the planning in the meantime and keep us posted!
Buen Camino,
Faith
Jo Anne, you can learn to cook Paella, trade out your Serta for bunk beds, and practice washing a few things by hand too.Thank you for your welcome and encouragement.
After reading the thoughtful postings in this stream, and posting my own (first comment on the entire forum), I suddenly realized there was much I could do: get going on my Duolingo Spanish, listen to traditional Spanish folk music... heck, maybe teach myself how to dance flamenco on Youtube!
I’ll be very happy to keep you all posted.
’til then,
Jo Anne
Joanne, you are so fortunate to have the Vancouver area for your Camino training grounds. Great city, great walking--and this is from a former Torontonian! No advice about the Camino; I'm leaving for Madrid tomorrow and start walking just the last segment (Sarria to SDC) Monday. Maybe I'll know something when I return.Thanks to all for these reflections.
I am very pre-Camino (maybe it’s evident in my photo with my dogs!) and sole caregiver for my family member. My goal is to be walking the Camino in one year’s time. I am blessed to be walk/practising with the Vancouver (BC) Camino group and feel so lifted each week. I have splurged and bought the “perfect backpack” which hangs on my bedpost.
I know that whether I walk the Camino or not, my training, preparation, learning will realign my being. However, times like today, my heart's longing feels out of reach. I pray for the strength and balance to be open to the Camino experiences of others and all these rich possibilities... without being wedded to my dream of actually walking.
Buon Camino... however you say it and spell it!
If you are not already, you should consider writing a book. I'm sure most of the people on this forum who have enjoyed your wit would agree.Jo Anne, you can learn to cook Paella, trade out your Serta for bunk beds, and practice washing a few things by hand too.
On the days when you have respite care to help out, get out of the house and be the tourist in your own city. Get a map and a day pack and just enjoy what is in your area.
I have been working out in my own way to get ready for August and Lisbon. I mow my lawn with an old electric push lawnmower. I have an old farmhouse on *2* acres. I was out there early mowing yesterday and my little old lady neighbor came hobbling over and waving her arms. "What are you doing! We have a ride on lawnmower you can borrow!"
I said "Do I look rich to you, Miss Mary?"
She said "No honey you're as poor as a church mouse, I know that!"
"Well Miss Mary, I need to get in shape. I don't have enough money to pay someone to mow my lawn then go out and get a gym membership too. This is my exercise."
"Well honey, you're gonna be Superwoman!"
"Yes, Miss Mary. Yes I am"
And I did the whole lawn. I know. My muscles tell me so.
Then when would I have time to mow? Hmmmm?If you are not already, you should consider writing a book. I'm sure most of the people on this forum who have enjoyed your wit would agree.
Before I set off for France a friend told me that she had known several people who had made the pilgrimage and ever one of them said that it had changed their lives. I thought about it then, and after returning home and still reflect on the implications of what she said. Therefore, just to get the ball rolling on a discussion that I pray will not degenerate into 'the true pilgrim' argument, I offer the following.
My life was changed before I walked out from SJPDP because of bereavement, but that loss was over a year before. I look back to how I was then and know that many of my attitudes have changed - hopefully for the better, but I can backslide with the best - as a result of walking that 500 miles to SdC. Perhaps it was because of already being in a state of emotional flux that provided the ground to best engage with what the pilgrimage (I wouldn't have given it that description at the beginning but did by the end) asked of and gave to me. One of the changes prompted by the Camino was to try to listen more attentively to what others are saying Having worked in education for many years, I had an embedded teacherly tendency to offer information often when not requested, then realised when walking through Spain how arrogant this could appear in a different context and that here was an experience where there was much for me to learn from others and that, in so many aspects of life, I was a complete rookie. Perhaps we choose to - or feel called - to walk the Camino at those moments when through circumstances beyond our control, profound changes have happened in our lives, or when we are in search of the means to make changes to the way we live but need a new environment in which to enable that transformation. These are just ramblings, what I am really interested in hearing is what other folks feel is the transformative power of walking the Camino.
Thanks Tony,Hi SEB, you ask a very interesting question that has had me vexed for months and full disclosure: my Camino isn't driven by religious reasons, a recent major life change or a feeling that somehow I need to find myself. Rather it's been on the bucket list over the last 20 years of trekking and have been asked numerous times if I've done that Spanish pilgrim thingy. And please, I'm not in anyway demeaning those who have done it and had a major life change. However, I have done many fantastic walks and there are hundreds more to do before I go 'toes up'. Why anyone would want to do say 11 Caminos when there are so many other fantastic treks to do is an interesting question.
Putting a religious perspective aside, my hunch is that many Camino walkers have never done a major let alone a minor trek and are just overwhelmed that they actually could walk 800 km. So their natural inclination is to do it again. I guess what we never here about are those folks who do the Camino, go home, put all their walking gear on eBay and never do another major trek again. It is invigorating and fascinating to be with people who have so much passion. And, you have to admire the people who go and do it. But I can assure you that the walking fraternity is a worldwide association and we care dearly about the environment and each other. Plus, we are easy to spot, we're the ones with backpacks and walking poles. And trust me, language is no barrier. On one occasion walking between Lake Como and Lake Lugano, and at that point with about zero Italian, I met a local couple and by the end of the day was having dinner at their home. Walkers have a common bond.
I'm looking forward very much to shortly starting my Camino but I urge everyone to widen their horizons. Treks like the Tour Mont Blanc take you to the roof of Europe and the views are spectacular and for most treks there is no fear of not finding a bed for the night. Stay or move on as you please.
A bit of a long winded answer SEB but I don't think I need to be psyched up for the Camino, find the inner me or have a revelation. I may have an epiphany but more than likely I'll find a group of happy, like minded people enjoying the great outdoors, freedom of the trail, wide open spaces and for some, realising the dream of a lifetime.
Happy trails
Ah Mike, I can see that you've caught the walking bug as well. Your current trail sounds fantastic. For me one of the greatest pleasures about long distance walking is the lack of planning required. Of course, you have the basics but I never book ahead. If I like a village or refugio, I stay. If it's crowded or to busy, I keep walking to the next one. Generally, I use walking maps (IGN and the GR trails in Europe), the Cicerone guide for the trail, compass and common sense. And, never a telephone app. The iPhone is just snug in the backpack for absolute emergencies.Thanks Tony,
I walked my first Camino last year - the 800kms. I got a taste for long walks. I started a wish list even before I left for Spain. Italy, France, Palestine (let's call it that for their sake). Last week I added Bhutan to the list. I walk almost every day - have an app in my phone so I can watch the numbers grow and see how long the heels on my boots will last. I want to take some long-exposure photos of the stars in Bhutan against those upstart mountains they have up that way.
The stars arrange themselves for us although they are not where they appear to be. They are rivers of light which swerve and carve their way to us, shepherded by the restless topography of spacetime along courses which untangle in our eyes in the illusion of that final instant. Some of the objects we see no longer exist but their lightrivers will continue to surge for millions of years. Beauty we don't yet see continues on its way to us arriving in its own time. Many trails to walk, as you say. Many companions to encounter.
Buen Camino, - Mike
Thank you for sharing Purky. You just brought home the simplicity of this journey and that simplicity allows space for true reflection and discovery about yourselfWhile walking, and nothing much else, I got to the point that I discovered a lot of room within myself. After all, I was left with only three daily questions: where do I sleep, what do I eat and how long do I walk? And even those questions weren't really vital: I had by then already proven to myself I could improvise, wing it and flourish anyway while on the road.
All that room inside gave me a new perspective, especially toward myself. I found that it enabled me to better view and understand certain emotional and intellectual reflexes, for lack of a better word. I finally figured out that the space created was just the absence of constant self-judgement, fear, feelings of loss, self-pity and general disapproval.
In other words, walking slammed me in the 'here and now' and disarmed my 'normal' mental and emotional jugglery. Peace and quiet upstairs, and a feeling of immense contentment. I found that I quite liked myself, and enjoyed being me.
I needed, and still need, to work hard to get to that place. No shortcuts, I'm afraid. Pressure and time, kilometers and days. But the knowledge I can get there is a formidable source of solace and strength. That is what I brought home.
..... Perhaps we choose to - or feel called - to walk the Camino at those moments when through circumstances beyond our control, profound changes have happened in our lives, or when we are in search of the means to make changes to the way we live but need a new environment in which to enable that transformation. These are just ramblings, what I am really interested in hearing is what other folks feel is the transformative power of walking the Camino.
Hi SEB, you ask a very interesting question that has had me vexed for months and full disclosure: my Camino isn't driven by religious reasons, a recent major life change or a feeling that somehow I need to find myself. Rather it's been on the bucket list over the last 20 years of trekking and have been asked numerous times if I've done that Spanish pilgrim thingy. And please, I'm not in anyway demeaning those who have done it and had a major life change. However, I have done many fantastic walks and there are hundreds more to do before I go 'toes up'. Why anyone would want to do say 11 Caminos when there are so many other fantastic treks to do is an interesting question.
Putting a religious perspective aside, my hunch is that many Camino walkers have never done a major let alone a minor trek and are just overwhelmed that they actually could walk 800 km. So their natural inclination is to do it again. I guess what we never here about are those folks who do the Camino, go home, put all their walking gear on eBay and never do another major trek again. It is invigorating and fascinating to be with people who have so much passion. And, you have to admire the people who go and do it. But I can assure you that the walking fraternity is a worldwide association and we care dearly about the environment and each other. Plus, we are easy to spot, we're the ones with backpacks and walking poles. And trust me, language is no barrier. On one occasion walking between Lake Como and Lake Lugano, and at that point with about zero Italian, I met a local couple and by the end of the day was having dinner at their home. Walkers have a common bond.
I'm looking forward very much to shortly starting my Camino but I urge everyone to widen their horizons. Treks like the Tour Mont Blanc take you to the roof of Europe and the views are spectacular and for most treks there is no fear of not finding a bed for the night. Stay or move on as you please.
A bit of a long winded answer SEB but I don't think I need to be psyched up for the Camino, find the inner me or have a revelation. I may have an epiphany but more than likely I'll find a group of happy, like minded people enjoying the great outdoors, freedom of the trail, wide open spaces and for some, realising the
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