A Reflective Read

I recently finished reading "Walking Home" by Sonia Choquette.

It the story of her 34 day walk of the ancient 800km pilgrimage path across Spain; the Camino de Santiago.  I love traveling; I love Spain; I love walking; I love the idea of the Camino and I really enjoyed one of Sonia Choquette's books and so for me this was a definite read! 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and loved how she wrote it in a diary format. Being a spiritual teacher and intuitive guide, her book is not just about her grueling journey but also a deeply inward reflection of where she was at in her life and how she got there.  She reflects on a number of her personal relationships and her behaviour and role in them.  While reading this, it inspired me to look at some of my relationships, especially one I find particularly challenging and whose company I was in at the time. It was a wonderful exercise for me and helped me to reflect on where I was at in this particular relationship and why my buttons were being pushed and that they could only really be buttons because they were my issues.  I went on daily walks along the beach and felt like I was doing a tiny little Camino walk myself everyday. It was wonderful.

I also really liked the option she chose of having 2 back packs and only carrying the smaller one with the other one being transported for her to her accommodation each night.  Also her accommodation was slightly upmarket from the pilgrims' albergues that most people traditionally stay in.  Initially my thoughts were along the lines of 'is that not cheating or opting for the easy route?' However, when I really sat with it, I realised that we don't need to be martyrs and that just doing the Camino itself requires huge guts and determination and everyone must find their own journey and work with what suits them best.  I had to laugh when she spoke about bumping into a busload of tourists who walked little stretches of the Camino and then hopped onto the bus that whisked them off to the next little stretch. Now to me that feels like cheating, but to some of those on the bus, it is probably what they can realistically manage and if that works for them, who am I to judge.

The Camino is on my bucket list and I am hoping to do it when my girls are a bit older and I can get away for such a long stretch of time.

If the Camino is something that interests you, I would definitely recommend reading it and if you enjoy Sonia Choquette's work, then it is lovely to get to know her a bit better.

Play

It has been ages since I have written on my blog and I am not entirely sure why.  There are some definite logical reasons, but there also seems to be a deeper one.  I think I have needed to do a bit of hibernating and after a body talk session, Clare Tucker, who I go to for body talk said, "I only want to see you again in January. Your body's telling me it just wants to be entertained."  Well with that permission, I have been doing exactly that.  I've been getting lost in a whole lot of fiction books and just watching movies.  It has been blissful and I think I really needed it.  I have come out my hibernation for a little bit while to sort out a whole lot of things for the Christmas holidays but am reveling in the fact that I have another month of just playing!  I ordered the following off Amazon and intend to immerse myself in them in the next few weeks.

During this hibernation, I also attended a process art workshop with Michelle McClunan in Hillcrest, and I absolutely loved it.  Our project for the day was "Me as a tree" and before we started on the painting, we did a bit of clay work which I found hugely pleasurable and beneficial.  Michelle shared with us the benefit of playing with clay when you are angry or sad and how when you are done with it you can just release that clay with all your stuff, back into the earth to be washed away with the next rains. I think that is a magical idea and a great way to teach children to deal with their anger too.  So I am off to get some sculpting clay soon.  I highly recommend it!

The process art was an amazing experience for me too and I had to learn let go of the outcome and work with the idea that it is about the process and not what it looks like when you are done. I had arrived with all these ideas in my head of creating a magnificent looking tree and was resistant and disappointed with the idea at first.  However, in reflecting at the end of the class, I realise my process was all about finding MY voice.  It was very powerful for me and I will be doing some more next year for sure!

Stolen Time

My friend Anne, shared this article with us a few days ago and it really resonated with me, because it feels like that is exactly what I do with my life.  I seem to be like a firefly flitting here and doing a bit there and then flitting somewhere else and doing a bit there and then being drawn back here and doing some more here and so it goes on, and yet when I look at my to-do-list at the end of the week, there is a lot I have ticked off, including my writing, journaling and blogging and it all seems to happen in those magical stolen moments!

And as Anne said, "to remember that we are part of a long line of brave wonderful women..."

Enjoy ... Stolen Time

Opening the Door to the Heavens ...

I really like this 'Dharma Comic" and loved Elizabeth Lesser's book, "Broken Open" so I thought it would be lovely to share for the weekend. I have seen it over and over again in my women's circles; just the sheer bravery and honesty of where you are at today is profound and shifts you, whether minutely or gigantically, but there is something to be said for being real with where you are at in your life!

Last Wednesday I was reminded of The Four Agreements, written by Don Miguel Ruiz, and remembered just how powerful they really are.  I had them written up on my fridge a few years ago and then the board they were written on broke so I took it down and have forgotten about them.  So I am delighted by the reminder. It also jolted me into seeing how I had made an assumption with one of my friends the day before.

If you are not familiar with the four agreements, they are:

1.  Be impeccable with your word; 
2.  Never make assumptions; 
3.  Don’t take anything personally; 
4.  Always do your best


They seem so simple and so obvious, but are actually much deeper and far more powerful than meets the eye. I wanted to share with you a snippet of what I read up on the first agreement which blew me away (again!!)  

"1ST AGREEMENT: BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD

“The first agreement is the most important one and also the most difficult one to honor. It is so

important that with just this first agreement you will be able to transcend to the level of existence

I call heaven on earth. The first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. It sounds very

simple, but it is very, very powerful.”

First, let’s look at how Ruiz defines the word impeccability: “Impeccability means ‘without sin.’

Impeccable comes from the Latin pecatus, which means ‘sin.’ The im in impeccable means

‘without,’ so impeccable means ‘without sin.’ Religions talk about sin and sinners, but let’s

understand what it really means to sin. A sin is anything that you do which goes against yourself. 

Everything you feel or believe or say that goes against yourself is a sin. You go against yourself when you judge or blame yourself for anything. 

Being without sin is exactly the opposite. Being impeccable is not going against yourself. When you are impeccable, you take responsibility for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself.” Brilliant.

So when we’re impeccable, we don’t use our word against ourselves indulging in guilt or shame.

We also don’t use our word against others in blaming, criticizing or gossiping. We also honor our

commitments and only make commitments we intend to follow through on.

How’re you doing on those fronts?"  (http://www.zikbay.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/the-four-agreements.pdf ) 

If this resonates with you, get yourself a copy of the book.  It's definitely worth reading and putting into practice.  I'm going to try with this one first. :-) 

I enjoy the poetry by David Whyte, and when googling the other day, saw an interesting link to his poem "Sometimes".  I really enjoyed reading it and thought that some of the questions he asked were really real, really powerful, and definitely worth some pondering ...

SOMETIMES

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest

breathing
like the ones
in the old stories

who could cross
a shimmering bed of dry leaves
without a sound,

you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests

conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and

to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,

questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,

questions
that have patiently
waited for you,

questions
that have no right
to go away.

~ David Whyte ~

(Everything is Waiting for You)

Here is the link to his 10 questions that have no right to go away ...

http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Poet-David-Whytes-Questions-That-Have-No-Right-to-Go-Away_1

"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent." C.G.Jung

In working with the Artist's Way, we came across this very profound quote and Donna-Joy Ford has written an interesting article on it that is very well worth reading.

Article on the JOY! Blog