Walking Thoughts

When I was training for the Camino, my thoughts on long walks were often questions:

Would I be able to do the full Camino Frances, a 500 mile pilgrimage?

Would be able to find places to stay each night?

Of all the possible side affects – blisters, tendonitis, hip and knee pain – which would I experience?

What sections of the Camino would I find the hardest – the meseta, the mountains, the downhills?

On and on, the questions popped up in my thoughts.  They weren’t thoughts based on fear – I wasn’t worried.  I felt capable of making decisions along The Way.  They were just questions that I wondered about.

Now when I am walking the same routes I did to train for the Camino, my thoughts are so entirely different ranging from playing with my imagination pretending I am back in Northern Spain, to having Ah hah! moments about the meaning of some experience there, to sorting out what do I want my life to look like now.

The Camino is such an individual and personal experience.  We can prepare ourselves physically, we can educate ourselves about the path; but, we can only stay open to receive the unknown, then let go.

As a business coach and consultant my work with clients is on one hand strategic planning yet on the other hand a healthy dose of intuition.  Years ago, my branding was America’s Focus Expert because of my unique ability to be both laser focused while leaving the lens open wide enough to see what lies outside the edges where often things go unnoticed.  On the Camino, I found myself helping some pilgrims who I walked with when chatter turned to deeper sharing.  Each time I felt a signal afterwards: “This is my natural gift”, as each pilgrim responded with sincere gratitude for our exchange.  I could tell when these very special moments were happening on the Camino, but it’s only after returning home that I realize what the message was for me.

Almost 15 years ago I published a gift book called The Land of I Can, An Adventure in Life.  It began first as an outline of thoughts, then once spread out across the pages like a children’s book with the words supported by illustrations, became a book.  The Land of I Can walks you through the lands of life – The Land of Apathy where life is dull, The Land of Fear where we are stuck and unable to move forward, The Land of Sorrow where we experience loss in many forms, The Land of Ashes where sometimes things are destroyed before arriving in The Land of I Can where all things are possible.  Throughout it says, “Trust, believe, take one step, then just let go.”  It is a pilgrim’s walking thoughts.

I published this book thinking it was a book women would buy for themselves and gift to others which is exactly what happened, and more.  I found psychologists using it to work with their clients.  I found men liked it as much as women!  And the most surprising and rewarding result was when my book found it it’s way into the elementary school system in the San Diego School District.  Each school year it is purchased in bulk and used for Character Development.  I could not have planned that in a million years!  By lovingly putting it out into the world, then letting go, it energetically found it’s rightful place.

Fast forward now to walking the Camino in May/June of 2016.  It’s the same path I have been on, just a different form that appeared on the horizon of my return.

Trusting the process brings with it the challenge and power of letting go.

Letting go of that which we can’t control is probably the greatest human challenge – and yet it’s the most important if we are to live happy, fulfilled lives.

What can you let go of that will help to make you a happier, more fulfilled person? What person, thing, or limiting belief can you say goodbye to in order to build a better life or business for yourself, TODAY?

The challenge is on.

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