“One of the functions of a pilgrimage is to wake us from our slumber.” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 181

My pilgrimage has been a huge gift in so many ways, but perhaps the greatest is that it is waking me from my slumber.

It is waking me from my slumber of going through the motions, through my days, especially in the repetition of tasks: washing dishes, taking the dogs out, brushing my teeth.

It is waking me up to my full senses, to color and form and miracles.

It is waking me up to my lightheartedness and my joyful spirit.

It is waking me up to the fullness of my life.

“He said he wanted to feel the presence of the place.” Art of Pilgrimage, page 183
So many Camino memoirs speak to feeling the presence of the place. This level of engagement seems to be an essential and universal experience of pilgrimage.

I had a palpable feeling of the presence of place the first time I set foot on the five acres that I now call my home. It was the first time I remember feeling that presence of a place.

Now, this is a commitment of mine: I want to sense the presence of a place. It is what connects me to it. It is what makes me share in the aliveness and vitality of the place.

This is particularly important to me on my pilgrimage, and since this is a virtual pilgrimage, the way that I am trying to tune into the presence of the Camino is by reading memoirs and especially by drawing the place, from photographs. This helps me tune into the feeling of the presence of this powerful place and to share in the energy of its power.

 

“Her antidote to boredom or the terror of lost time is to do things that alter time.” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 103, about Hannah Hinchman.

I was very curious about this quote when I came across it in The Art of Pilgrimage. So I am playing with it today. What does it mean to alter time, and why would we want to do it?
Meditation alters time, because I really cannot accurately sense the passage of time when I am meditating. I am lost in an oasis of contentment and harmony.

The thing that most alters time for me is drawing. It’s my intention to do some drawing each day on my pilgrimage, because I enjoy doing it, and it connects me to a sense of the Camino.I realize now that it also alters time.

I draw what I love. When I see something that captures my attention and imagination, I want to draw it. For me, drawing is not art, but it is making marks of what I see. And to do that, I really need to look at it. And when I really look at it, I lose all sense of time.

To me, drawing is a complete immersion in aliveness, and, in that immersion, time becomes irrelevant for just a few minutes.

 

“In sacred travel, every experience is uncanny. No encounter is without meaning.” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 97

I’m practicing this ancient knowledge about pilgrimages, working it into my bones as I walk. It’s one thing to get it intellectually, and a whole different thing to really understand what it means.

As I practice it, I’m noticing things that I used to let pass by, unnoticed, or unacknowledged. The tiny rainbows in the water droplets that collect on blades of grass after a rainfall, noticeable to me because I was appreciating the variety of colors in the landscape. The red-tailed hawk that flew by, right at eye level, just as I was thinking about what it would be like to fly.

What would it be like if we came to our lives this way, assuming that there is meaning in all of it? Personal meaning, just for us.

Handing It Over and Shedding Plans and Expectations makes room for a playful, childlike wonder, a refreshing attitude of gratefulness that enlivens and fills me.

I am grateful for the simplest of things. The wispy orange/yellow clouds in the sky just before the sun rises. The joyful wagging of my dog’s tail as he greets me when I return home. The smile that lights up the clerk’s face in the market.

I am grateful for all of it, because all of these simple, “ordinary” things been given to me as part of my being alive. Today, I feel spacious and free.

“We can plan only so much and then we must let go and trust in Kairos, the old god of synchronicity.” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 116

Phil Cousineau, the author of The Art of Pilgrimage, calls this the Way of Serendipity.

I find this a refreshing quote, and such a refreshing way to be, when I remember it! It’s in many ways very counter-cultural for us in the Western world. It’s a spontaneous way to be and I find it takes a radical trust, in the flow of Life.

I am finding myself, more and more, releasing expectations of the way I think things should go, or how they should be.

This is so freeing, and it truly does make room for me to walk lightheartedly and with a joyful spirit. And, it is definitely a practice and not a destination!

I’m handing over the destination and the details of my pilgrimage to Spirit. As many pilgrims on the Camino have said, I’m Trusting the Camino (to give me everything I need as I go along). Handing this over clears the space for me to walk lightheartedly and with a joyful spirit.

When I don’t hand it over, my mind is filled with details about what I need to do or to pay attention to. When I walled lightheartedly, I am inspired to attend to things as they arise and there’s room for the inspiration to come in.

I was curious about how a virtual pilgrimage would work. In truth, it is very simple. I show up and meditate every day. I check in, and everything I need is given to me in the moment. I’m inspired to any action to take, or any direction to head.

The inspiration becomes the path.

It takes faith in life to move forward when we can’t see much of the path ahead. Our inner wisdom knows the next step, and we discover it by listening faithfully. And then, so often, we see the path only in retrospect. It’s always an act of faith for me, and it feels, lighthearted, joyful, and free.

This morning as I take my first steps, I try on “walking lightheartedly and with a joyful spirit.”

Each morning before I begin my day, I meditate, and those words came to me very clearly in my meditation time yesterday. They felt so resonant, and so personal. I felt known and seen, and this, to me, is what feeling supported by Spirit feels like.

It is grace to be given something of such clarity. It is a gift, generous and invaluable.

And, as it turns out, ironically, it feels not so easy for me to be that way, on the trail, every day. This is probably why it felt so relevant to me.

I believe that we are all, at our core nature, among other qualities, lighthearted and joyful. Many people would describe their experience of me as that. But it has been a long time since I have really felt like that as my “home base” on the inside, as I move through my day-to-day life.

The other day, I heard someone say (it may have been on an audio CD, and I apologize, because I cannot place and credit the source) that we all move through our days with a mantra going through our heads, whether we are conscious of it or not.

I realized that the mantra that goes through my head most consistently is “I have to.” This is in spite of the fact that I have intentionally nearly eliminated that phrase entirely from my spoken language, because I know we are always at choice, even when it doesn’t feel that way. But, still, this mantra thing rings true: I move through my life with my to do list in the front and center of my mind, and in often living in future tense.

This is why it feels like such a miracle to be invited to walk lightheartedly and with a joyful spirit. It feels good. It feels adventurous and fun. And I feel supported.

 

 

 

“What are you listening for now? What do you hear amid the cacophony of your life” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 88

As a pilgrim, I’ve tried to be faithful to listening to “the call,” to how I am being guided to Be on my pilgrimage.

This “call” has been shifting, clarifying, emerging and evolving as I go along. This doesn’t surprise me because that’s the way life is also. How we are guided or inspired to be changes as we go along.

When I first contemplated going on a pilgrimage, there were four words that came to me immediately: Intention, Commitment, Readiness, Willingness. I had no idea at the time how those might play out, only that they felt important.

When I began my pilgrimage, it was clear that the predominant call was to Wake Up to my life. Again, I wasn’t sure what that really meant. That was just the inspiration that was coming through when I invited clarity on what I was being called to.

Then, it was To Walk, which to me means being mindful, attentive, and aware. it means living in the present moment and taking each step consciously and deliberately.

I’ve also been called to let things go along the way, especially beliefs and pre-conceptions about what I need to carry. This has been about trusting that Life will give me what I need as I go along. It’s been about Trusting the Camino.

And now, a new invitation from Spirit came through very clearly in my morning quiet time: Walk Lightheartedly and with a Joyful Spirit.

Although it resonated immediately with me, it did surprise me. I have always thought of pilgrimages as journeys of a serious nature, being characterized by sacrifice and privation.

So, I’m very curious and intrigued as to how living into this new call will unfold as I continue on my pilgrimage.