Simple Rules Discovered on the Camino
Camigas on the Camino de Santiago
Well, you are probably wondering if I just kept walking the Camino right into the Atlantic Ocean last September! Yes, it’s been almost four months since I started my Camino walk. I haven’t written until now because it is still marinating and taking shape inside of me. And in some ways I’m reflecting on what is to be shared and what’s mine for the experience.
It reminds me of when I was in Ethiopia in 1995 and my new video camera corroded from the humidity and erased all my footage except one minute. It felt devastating, but my sister who lived there with the Borana people said, “Perhaps it was just for you to experience.” That has carried with me for almost 30 years and with social media and everyone sharing everything, it has me catch myself sometimes and wonder, “What is to be shared and what is just for me to experience?”
Sharing an experience like the Camino de Santiago is, for me, a bit like taking nature photos. I can try, but I will never capture the beauty that comes from just being in it. The Camino experience, like nature, has a vibrancy that is alive. It has smells that ground you and take you to new places. The connection with people, thoughts, beliefs, nature, God, and oneness is richer than any sentence I could write. Sharing something so multi-dimensional and magical into a string of words feels awkward, unnatural, or maybe just uncomfortable, but I decided it was time.
My Camino amiga, my “camiga”, Kelly, and I started the walk on my birthday, my “New Year.” And as many of you know I choose a Word each new year of my life. The word is either one I’d like to explore or one that gives me intentional focus for the year. The last few years I’ve also started writing simple rules for the word to give it a bit more depth and exploration. When I started the walk, I thought I’d start with my new word and simple rules since it was my new year. But nothing came to me – I was very stuck. And then I realized that it was the walk that would give me what I needed to continue this camino of my 57th year of life.
At the end of the Camino, no word revealed itself, but there were simple rules that did bubble to the top. These simple rules keep showing up when I reflect on what the Camino taught me.
Keep it simple.
Hold things lightly.
Believe in miracles.
Keep it simple. It was simple. You got up, packed your backpack, and walked. You ate somewhere along the way, walked, ate again, attended pilgrim mass, and then slept. Repeat. Along the way there were little yellow arrows on cement markers painted on the side of a building or on a little sign or stone. These arrows keep you on the thousand-year-old path and the countryside, forests, and paths hold you in. The space and time to just BE is a privilege that I do not take for granted. Anytime I think too hard about anything, I realize that these thoughts are “no es importante”…and I shift into…Hold things lightly.
Hold things lightly. So many things that feel so serious or important to me really aren’t. “No es importante” was a phrase given to us within an hour of being dropped off in a town to start the walk. (One of many miracles!) It was 6pm and we didn’t have a place to sleep. After marveling at the ancient church set idyllically in the hillside, we walked the town and came upon a man. This man looked like he had been walking for a very long time and possibly slept in wherever was available – inside or out. We asked him where he was going, and he said, “Aqui.” We asked where he was sleeping that night and he said, “No es importante.” Two very powerful statements that contained only a few words. Kelly and I looked at each other with amazement because we both felt the electricity of what he had just taught us and we hadn’t even started walking. By the time we looked away from each other he was gone. The whole trip, when we would get flustered or worry about something, we would remember…We are here (aqui) and be grounded. Or we would say, “No es importante.” These two statements shifted us from gripping some need for an answer or clarity and we would relax back into life. Our bodies and minds realized, when things are held lightly in the present moment, so much more is possible – it’s freeing!
Believe in miracles. This rule actually started out as “Trust God,” but I found over the months that the real message the Camino has given me is, “believe in miracles.” These are in many ways the same thing to me, but to believe feels more electrifying. There were so many miracles on the path, small and large, sometimes unrecognizable in the moment, but revealing their wisdom and joy just at the right time. If you’d like to hear about them, send me a message and ask me to tell you about the miracles of the bird, the bed, and the Camino passport.
Are you “aqui”?
Are there things you might say, “no es importante” to that will give you some freedom? Are there areas you could approach more simply? Are you present to yourself and noticing the miracles in each moment?
Take a moment right now and say to yourself, “Aqui.” Breathe………
P.S. And for those who only kept reading to figure out what my word is for this year…it’s RIVER.
Flow like a river, not fighting boulders but moving gracefully around them; sometimes pushing up against the banks to see what might be a stretch yet staying focused on the path; and always twinkling in the moonlight. Simple, held lightly, and believing in miracles.
If you want to develop your own Word and simple rules, sign up for one of the Birthday Workshops! Or buy it as a gift for a friend. Learn more and register.
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If you need time and space to explore and get present to yourself, your ideas, and your dreams, consider joining our NourishDeep retreat in April. We are calling women who are ready to rejuvenate and be intentional about their life journey. We will guide you on a deep, rich and life giving “camino” at the Peace Retreat Centre in Costa Rica. Learn more.