Pilgrimage Check-In, #1

 

“To set out on a pilgrimage is to throw down a challenge to everyday life.”  – Huston Smith, from the Forward of The Art of Pilgrimage, page xi

 

 

For a couple of years now, I’ve been pondering Aging. Not in a morose way, but in a questioning, challenging way.

I have been throwing down a challenge to our mainstream cultural beliefs that generally hold that Aging is a slow but steady process of physical and mental deterioration, diminishment of energy, and a dampening of our passion for life. Who wants to sign up for that?

And, why does it have to be that way? My clients, friends and colleagues are thriving examples of increasing creativity, contribution, and love-of-life in Aging.

As I was contemplating my intention for this pilgrimage, I had one of those Blinding Flashes of the Obvious. I choose. I choose.

I choose to Wither or Wake Up. This is a choice that I can make in every moment. I may not choose my life circumstances or events, but I do choose my response to them.

Pilgrimages don’t let us go to sleep. They demand Attention and Aliveness.

Wither or Wake Up. My intention for this pilgrimage is to Wake Up. To my life.

What do you want to wake up to?

Last year I spent my winter in Greece, in my imagination. Long story, but the essence is that I wanted to spend some time in the sun, color, and energy of the Greek Isles while the snow flew here. I read memoirs and did close to 30 small watercolor paintings, which I posted on my personal blog.

I enjoyed my experience so much that I was yearning to go on another virtual trip for the winter this year. I happened to mention it to one of my clients, and she recommended a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. This is a pilgrimage that she is doing, live, next Spring.

Spending time in Northern Spain very much appeals to me, but what really resonated  was the idea of a pilgrimage. Something about that was calling to me strongly.

“A pilgrimage is a transformative journey to a sacred center.” – Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage, page xxiii.

So I am going on pilgrimage for the winter on the Camino de Santiago. It will be an inner pilgrimage, but I will draw and paint from photographs of the route. I’ll be reading personal memoirs of the pilgrimage, and re-reading The Art of Pilgrimage, one of my all-time favorite books. Stay tuned for some juicy quotes from that book.

Questions are coming to me as I open the door to my pilgrimage:

What is a pilgrimage?
What is an inner pilgrimage?
How can a pilgrimage help us in our pressure-filled, rapidly-paced lives and environments?
What is calling me at this time?

So far, four words have bubbled up in my reflections: Intention, Commitment, Readiness, and Willingness. More to come about these.

I will share my reflections and watercolor drawings about my pilgrimage on this blog. In addition to any other intentions or transformations, I am hoping that I will get better at drawing pilgrims!