Gifts from the Camino

The Camino is very giving.  

The Camino gives in unexpected ways.

The Camino continues to give long after you reach Santiago.

The Camino is a teacher who opens up new areas of awareness not available in the busy doingness of our everyday lives.

I learned about gifts from the Camino slowly over the thirty-seven days of walking the path even though they began appearing immediately.  I am still learning, seeing and receiving.

I received my first gift on Day 1 and did not recognize its impact for weeks to come.  It was the gift of sharing a common goal. My first day was a very short and joyful day.  Walking up into the Pyrenees and over into Spain from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port had been my biggest concern and had chosen to stop at the Orisson Refuge overnight to break this section into two days.  Imagine my surprise when I had arrived at my destination in a little over two hours with the whole day ahead of me to simply meet and visit with 40 or so other pilgrims.  Some of the pilgrims I met there I never saw again while others were my off and on companions throughout my Camino.  We arrived from different countries, we varied in age, we laughed and cried together as conversations were both playful and went deep quickly, and we shared the common goal to walk the path.  This gift led to deep connections.

I received my second gift the following morning when one of the pilgrims, Scott, took me aside and gave me a patch for my backpack.  He had some made up before he left home with a plan to gift others who he met, and I was one of those lucky pilgrims.  The patch quotes the beginning of the 23rd Psalm, Verse 3 in Latin.  In Latin “Animam meam refecit” translates to “Restores my Soul“.  Little did I know how true those words would be as a description for my Camino experience.

The gift of new foods and nourishment like the Tortilla de Patatas (eggs and potatoes that became a daily staple),  roasted serrano peppers, garlic soup, and in the larger cities – amazing tapas (pinchos).  While the pilgrim menus were plain and often repetitive in their offerings the food was always plentiful as was the wine and camaraderie.

The gift of self-nurturing.  I’m very good about taking care of the people I care about, the animals who depend on me and my clients whose successes are my mission.  I’ve not always been so good about taking care of myself, often putting work or my to-do list before my own needs.  On the Camino, we pilgrims need to take care of our bodies for the magnificent experience of long and often arduous daily walks.  My feet have never been so pampered for which they in turn comfortably carried me down the path blister and pain free.  Drinking enough water to stay hydrated, eating often, and getting enough rest kept me well. I blessedly find that the habit started on the Camino is continuing now that I am home with thoughts and plans as to what changes I need to make in my personal and work life to support this.

The gifts continued as I walked becoming more aware with each one: Nature’s gifts of beauty almost too breathtaking to behold.  Nature’s constant music which ranged from the blowing wind, to the song filled birds, to the cow bells ringing out across the pastures and valleys along with the never ending human greetings of Buen Camino and Hola!  – words we all understand on the Camino.

The gift of time.  Time to simply stand on the path and watch a small finch light on a blade of wheat, balancing there in the moment where I could almost feel the swift shivering of the wheat and hear the faint hum of her vibrating wings as she flew away.  I will never look at time the same way again nor use it wastefully.  Here in the US, we are applauded for how many hours we work and how much we accomplish which the Camino turns upside down and sideways.  Walking the Camino is a remembering of what it feels like to be alive and be with a sense of wonder.  I am laying down a new path for me to walk upon every day as I follow the arrows to a more fulfilling and rewarding life than things or money could ever buy.

I vow not to forget these gifts and be forever thankful for my awareness, now opened on the Camino, of heavenly gifts in this world where the birds are our choir, the stones our altar, the trees our spire.  I am thankful for the life threatening storm I walked through on Day 2 when the high speed winds blew away my old ways providing the space upon which I can paint a new canvas and crowned me a survivor.

Gifts of kindness from other pilgrims and from those who served us.  I carried a small change purse with coins that I would pull out when purchasing something to eat or drink at a bar and often just dumped the coins into my hand initially for the barista to choose the needed payment until I learned the currency.  One day, as I held them out the woman behind the counter, she took payment for my coffee, then chose the many small currency coins which she returned in the form of 5 Euro paper bill.  She knew pilgrims. Less weight to carry when every ounce carried mattered.  The message metaphorically reminded me how the weight of my ‘real life’ was being lifted from my shoulders every day making me now question, ‘What is real’?  That is a gift as well.  My soul is more alive and present, stripped clean of busy doingness that dampened my senses and kept me disconnected what ‘what is real’.

Santiago was always the final stop on the path but was never the destination.  It was a cherry on the delicious cake I had been consuming bite by bite one day at a time with my intention to stay present with everyone and everything I encountered.

I am slowly finding my way here at home while walking the imaginary path I am creating anew.

Einstein’s often quoted words come to mind:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

A gift from the Camino is the gift of change.  The Camino change happened over a period of five (5) weeks, gradually, day by day – and many would say began the day I decided to walk the Camino.  I suspect I will see many more changes as the weeks and months unfold.  A fellow pilgrim sent me an article on Transitioning from Camino Life to Real Life and it mentions making lists of things you want to change while you are walking the Camino.  For those of you who plan to walk in the future, I think this is a great idea that will keep you on your path long after you have returned home.  For me, I’m making my lists now that I am home and checking them twice.  Some things I can change immediately and am doing so – I’m writing this while sitting outside with my new fur friend Sam at my feet, letting go of the ‘have to be in the office to work’ false belief.  Some things will happen gradually like how I conduct my business in order to free up the time to continue walking.

Will there be clouds along the way? – Yes!

Clouds have movement, yet aren’t they a great protection from the heat of overwhelm?

I see clear skies ahead.

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