Circumstances

[Angie94]

As I set out on my "training hike" yesterday in a chilly 32 degree day accompanied by intermittent snow and sleet I began to ponder my circumstances. Then I began to reflect on the actual word 'circumstance' and later looked it up just to see what the dictionary had to say about this particular word....
"a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another"
While I can't say I am grateful or even appreciate the circumstances that have led me to this point in my life - a complete upheaval of my life including relocating, new job, and multiple losses and lots of anger, what I can say is I am grateful that they "determined another" set of circumstances which brought me to Ohio. I started taking some short walks, hoping to dispel some angry feelings as I stomped around the park. I then met a lady that I occasionally walk with that told me about a pilgrimage she did called the Camino de Santiago. It stirred something inside me, which led me to research it online, which led me to this forum. By reading the many wonderful posts and asking questions I actually began to believe I could do this. The hope and inspiration that fellow forum members offer here is priceless. I don't know what the future holds for me, as none of us really do, but I have committed to doing this walk (May 15th, 2016) and hopefully can regain my spiritual footing as I once had.
p.s. yesterday I finally hit 15 miles with my pack! I was so happy with my new accomplishment as I have been trying to get there for a while now. I was cold....but happy!! Buen Camino

 

[Angie94]

by the way Linda, I got one of those skirts you told me about - can't wait to try it out! thanks so much...

 

[purplesage]

@Angie94.... hope to see you on The Way sometime.. Buen Camino caesar

 

[Angie94]

hopefully I won't be "stomping my feet" as I move on down the road!

 

[Ekelund]

Walking is a great way of dealing with anger, it is impossible to stay angry while walking. It is like you walk away from it. Good that you have found a way to handle your anger.
Buen Camino.

 

[amorfati1]

As I set out on my "training hike" yesterday in a chilly 32 degree day accompanied by intermittent snow and sleet I began to ponder my circumstances. Then I began to reflect on the actual word 'circumstance' and later looked it up just to see what the dictionary had to say about this particular word....
"a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another"
While I can't say I am grateful or even appreciate the circumstances that have led me to this point in my life - a complete upheaval of my life including relocating, new job, and multiple losses and lots of anger, what I can say is I am grateful that they "determined another" set of circumstances which brought me to Ohio. I started taking some short walks, hoping to dispel some angry feelings as I stomped around the park. I then met a lady that I occasionally walk with that told me about a pilgrimage she did called the Camino de Santiago. It stirred something inside me, which led me to research it online, which led me to this forum. By reading the many wonderful posts and asking questions I actually began to believe I could do this. The hope and inspiration that fellow forum members offer here is priceless. I don't know what the future holds for me, as none of us really do, but I have committed to doing this walk (May 15th, 2016) and hopefully can regain my spiritual footing as I once had.
p.s. yesterday I finally hit 15 miles with my pack! I was so happy with my new accomplishment as I have been trying to get there for a while now. I was cold....but happy!! Buen Camino

dear Angie 94 - The word 'circumstance' triggered a quote I've re-read just yesterday, as it was quote in another book. and to me, they always provide amazing food for thought and contemplation, off and on camino/pilgrimages.

By Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" - transl Ilse Lasch, rev. and enl ed., Boston, 190, pp 65-66.
you probably know of it already or even have read it.
Here are a few bits that truly resonated on the subject of circumstance:
"....they may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
And there were always choices to be made. Every day, every hour offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the playthings of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate. [...] ....Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. .... [...] ...bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom can not be lost. ..."
(the book is about his time in a so called concentration camp).
any emotions, anger or other, don't simply get dispelled and evaporate into thin air.... one learns to face them first. and a pilgrimage can be a blessed time of facing those emotions within.
it literally can get one into motion (which is part of that word) and action.
sounds like you are on a good path - inwardly and outwardly! and May is approaching 'fast'...
very best wishes -- buen camino ... c.

 

[purplesage]

hopefully I won't be "stomping my feet" as I move on down the road!

@Angie94... you're going to have a blast!! Cheers, Caesar

 

[purplesage]

dear Angie 94 - The word 'circumstance' triggered a quote I've re-read just yesterday, as it was quote inother book. and to me, they always provide amazing food for thought and contemplation, off and on camino/pilgrimages.

By Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" - transl Ilse Lasch, rev. and enl ed., Boston, 190, pp 65-66.
you probably know of it already or even have read it.
Here are a few bits that truly resonated:
"....they may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
And there were always choices to be made. Every day, every hour offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the playthings of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate. [...] ....Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. .... [...] ...bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom can not be lost. ..."
(the book is about his time in a so called concentration camp).
any emotions, anger or other, don't simply get dispelled and evaporate into thin air.... one learns to face them first. and a pilgrimage can be a blessed time of facing those emotions within.
it literally can get one into motion (which is part of that word) and action.
sounds like you are on a good path - inwardly and outwardly! and May is approaching 'fast'...
very best wishes -- buen camino ... c.

@amorfati1.... A W E S O M E... again!! Thank you for the great stuff. Caesar

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Circum means "around" to me. Like @Ekelund said, walking away from is a different matter.

A circumstance is a situation, for sure, and the concept of "no escape" or perhaps--that "choice to be made"--landed us in a circumstance.

I was talking to my Camino brother @Simon He last night, and talking with him, as I often did on Camino, about the circumstances of my family.

Perhaps I am more inclined to hold on to some of the difficult memories, but also I have had very close relationships with those family people, as well as with my ex husband. That said, there has been loss, and there has been anger. Yes...a lot of loss, a lot of anger.

I can't deny, though, that the long walk of Camino Frances helped me in a phrase that my pastor friend captured well---"silent practice". For me, walking solo (sola) and meditating, using mantras, praying are all part of what I do when I'm walking. And that's a very pretty way of saying that I used "positive" messages to myself to relax, drink water, be okay, keep going, keep going, keep going....

My favorite phrase--which saw me through a rather frightening time on the Camino (don't worry; it was all my mind, nothing real)--was "Open your heart; love will win" or something similar to that. I will see it again in March. Then, after repeating that phrase about a hundred times to calm my agitation (I was exhausted, could not find a place to stay, and it was getting dark...and I was absolutely alone), two good women walked up behind me--a dutch woman and a british woman, who I knew as friends. We had a friendly conversation, albeit brief, and they walked on. I mentioned that I would be stopping soon. Where? didn't know yet. But seeing my friends made things better. Then I saw a sigh: Open your heart wider...

After another ten minutes, I was checked into a large, strange, comfortable!! hotel--Hotel Novo? and it was there that I had an encounter and some laughs with two young women, one who later became none other than my Camino daughter, the 17-year-old I walked into Santiago with....Open Your Heart Wider indeed!

Only on the last ten days was I really able to walk with someone else. At that point, I had reached a very good place.

Would I like my husband to walk the Camino with me? Yes. If only to see what I see, and laugh, and look at things together, the things of great beauty. I'd like to do that someday, but I can only get him--at this time--to walk in the USA, and also we have a trip planned in Scotland!

Honestly, though, the meditative aspect is very, very healthy for me---and I know for a fact that it is good for others too.

@amorfati1 , from your post, these words:

"emotions, anger or other, don't simply get dispelled and evaporate into thin air.... one learns to face them first. and a pilgrimage can be a blessed time of facing those emotions within..."

Those words say it all perfectly.

@Angie94 , you are a good woman and this experience that you are undertaking is going to be such a wonderful experience for you.

 

[Angie94]

ear Angie 94 - The word 'circumstance' triggered a quote I've re-read just yesterday, as it was quote in another book. and to me, they always provide amazing food for thought and contemplation, off and on camino/pilgrimages.

By Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" - transl Ilse Lasch, rev. and enl ed., Boston, 190, pp 65-66.
you probably know of it already or even have read it.

Actually I haven't read it, but after reading your passage from it, I fully intend to! I read over what you wrote twice and I can't tell how much your post has helped me to just start to see things a bit differently...it always does my heart good to read of others experience and know they were triumphant in overcoming very difficult situations or 'circumstances'. It helps me to become a better, stronger person.

After another ten minutes, I was checked into a large, strange, comfortable!! hotel--Hotel Novo? and it was there that I had an encounter and some laughs with two young women, one who later became none other than my Camino daughter, the 17-year-old I walked into Santiago with....Open Your Heart Wider indeed!

Wow! what an experience...can't say that doesn't make me feel a bit anxious but then everything worked out fine! I am going to have to trust other's experience that all will be well.

thanks for your awesome comments!!
Angie C.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Actually I haven't read it, but after reading your passage from it, I fully intend to! I read over what you wrote twice and I can't tell how much your post has helped me to just start to see things a bit differently...it always does my heart good to read of others experience and know they were triumphant in overcoming very difficult situations or 'circumstances'. It helps me to become a better, stronger person.



Wow! what an experience...can't say that doesn't make me feel a bit anxious but then everything worked out fine! I am going to have to trust other's experience that all will be well.

thanks for your awesome comments!!
Angie C.

Remember: the anxiety and fear were entirely of my imagination!

Lots of "what ifs" that were in no way part of the situation. Unless you were referring to acquiring a 17-year-old along the way, ha ha!

 

[amorfati1]

Actually I haven't read it, but after reading your passage from it, I fully intend to! I read over what you wrote twice and I can't tell how much your post has helped me to just start to see things a bit differently...it always does my heart good to read of others experience and know they were triumphant in overcoming very difficult situations or 'circumstances'. It helps me to become a better, stronger person.

oh - am so pleased you find it helpful in some way. and yes, please do seek it out, it's a lovely li'l book on the greatness of human spirit and heart. it surely can be found on the net or your local bookstore - and perhaps even kindle or audiobook?! highly recommended...
(ah, i just remembered: some years ago i came across a video (black/white) of a talk given by him (in the US) - found it on u-tube. you might still be able to find it?! that book is - to me - a true classic of modern times.)

i would hazard a guess and dare to say that most likely you already ARE that 'better and stronger' person - just sometimes circumstance can appear and be so crushing of heart and spirit that one could easily be left with the feeling/impression that one IS the circumstance and thus feels diminished by it... and then the danger is one gets stuck in that belief. i always appreciated that saying (attributed to carl g jung) " if you feel you are going through hell ..... keep walking"
thus - keep walking, inwardly and outwardly. everything has an expiration date, just like yoghurt ... (which i kept telling myself during some less-than-charming crunch-times.
be not despirited --- just keep walking ... a step at a time, a feather at a time ...

and not to bore you to sobs with my favorite quotes - i wonder if i may share another one please?
this one i kept with me for many years in my pocket paper calendar - and was read veryyyy often. it verbalized something that i had no powers left to articulate. and was immensely grateful for having come across it. another sanity save on paper It's by George Bernard Shaw:

It is a curious sensation:
the sort of pain that goes mercifully
beyond our powers of feeling.
When your heart is broken,
your boats are burned:
nothing matters any more.
It is the end of happiness
and the beginning of peace.

 

[Angie94]

It is the end of happiness
and the beginning of peace.

peace would be lovely at this point...

 

[William Garza]

From a decidedly different pov.

You forget.
You learn to forget
You..forget what must need be forgotten
You
Never forget.

Walking away from what was the end of innocents, of..my younger self.
I hit the road to find peace
To find a quietude for the remorsefull..remorse filled soul.
I found..Absolution.

Years of tears..on day finally loosed their burning grip...
I found
Through the effort and time, that life became easyer to bear..no longer the burden.
Everything became at one step
Removed,
A curiosity
A
Part of my past healed to scar.

With enough time and distance
You can find the time and space inside to cope with any thing.

You never lose what is
You lose the importance attributed to that particular importance.
And find if not Freedom
A
Modicum of Peace.
Within
Throughout..
I hope you find
And lose
On your Camino.

Some fine day
Your steps grow lighter
Your head sees the road farther ahead
Your soul flutters with new awakened wings.

Be Blessed

 

[Angie94]

what a beautiful and moving post.

 

[t2andreo]

Dang! The Texas Poet does it again!

How do you do it, you silver tongued devil?

Another outstanding piece of poetry.

Thank you!

 

[William Garza]

It was her..
That's mah story.

It was Angie..
Some of us it seems sometimes find a missing yearning...and it fits in with a bigger puzzle.
I cant speak for none but myself..but ime sure there is a common thread binding people to the road.

Mine?
Escape. I felt the withering that the leaves feel at winters touch.
Only to find on letting go?
I enjoyed, embraced! the freedom that severing a tie, bound to tightly..loosed at last.
The wimters leaves are not sad
They are free.

You may not see it
Until you know it.

That self same artisan..the wind, which shapes trees, also shapes the leaves for their leaving.

You never see them fall as if weighted down by gravity
Some...
Pirouette to the embrace
Some
Waltz to and fro in the gentle embrace at last.

We
Loosed from whichever bind
Walk the roads the same..

Some defy gravity and have full use of the breeze
Some must obey the laws amid the rings of age,and slowly drift...

Some fall into the River of Stars and wend slowly long the way...

But all in common... are falling toward Santiago.

Angie.
I hope you find what was
What is
And what shall be

The answers are somewhere,out there
There is Always an answer
There is always a Way.

Let go of the ties and dance on the winds!

All of the Pilgrims
Be blessed on your Way

 

[Angie94]

I have often told people that I love reading a well written book because some people use words like a paint brush. And even within one sentence they can create an incredible image within the reader's mind...you are one of those people. What a gift. Experiencing envy has never been one of my stronger character defects (I have many more that are much stronger! hah!) but I can honestly say I am envious of those who have this gift.

 

[movinmaggie]

And sometimes you can find yourself in the service to others, as I did working with children in India. However I should add, it'not for everyone. I'm certain your Camino walk can be a life-changer for you. I am touched by your very gentile heart and do wish you Buen Camino.

 

[Angie94]

And sometimes you can find yourself in the service to others, as I did working with children in India. However I should add, it'not for everyone. I'm certain your Camino walk can be a life-changer for you. I am touched by your very gentile heart and do wish you Buen Camino.

Maggie, I have a couple of questions...may I PM you?

 

[movinmaggie]

Absolutely....

 

[Devon Mike]

I don't know what the future holds for me, as none of us really do, but I have committed to doing this walk (May 15th, 2016) and hopefully can regain my spiritual footing as I once had.
p.s. yesterday I finally hit 15 miles with my pack! I was so happy with my new accomplishment as I have been trying to get there for a while now. I was cold....but happy!! Buen Camino

Hi Angie,

Your training is going well. I see you now have your dates fixed, starting from SJPP on May 15th? What is your planned date to get to Santiago?

Buen Camino,

Mike

 

[Angie94]

Hi Mike, I will be leaving the States on the 15th, but as far as any fixed dates for SJPP and Santiago, none yet! Still working on transportation and such. Yes, I am happy with my training...it is surprising how many physical ailments have "disappeared" the longer I train. YAY!! Buen Camino
Ang

 

[Devon Mike]

Hi Mike, I will be leaving the States on the 15th, but as far as any fixed dates for SJPP and Santiago, none yet! Still working on transportation and such. Yes, I am happy with my training...it is surprising how many physical ailments have "disappeared" the longer I train. YAY!! Buen Camino
Ang

I will be in SJPP on May 17th to start on the 18th, so may see you there.

 

[Angie94]

That is a very likely possibility! You have already been a valuable resource for information and help. Mucho gracias, and I am sure I will see along the Way.

 

[Damien Reynolds]

Angie... your training is great. With that kind of effort beforehand you minimize the soreness, blisters, and unknown of the way. This allows you also to concentrate on the great things you'll encounter (people, faith) rather than the fear. Bad ass.

 

[Angie94]

Angie... your training is great. With that kind of effort beforehand you minimize the soreness, blisters, and unknown of the way. This allows you also to concentrate on the great things you'll encounter (people, faith) rather than the fear. Bad ass.

it is one of the reasons I want to try and be as physically prepared as possible - I would like to concentrate more on inside issues that need tending to, rekindle my relationship with God... and as you mentioned, enjoy the people and my surroundings. I don't want any blisters or bummed up feet taking up my time, attention, energy or focus!

 

[Angie94]

i would hazard a guess and dare to say that most likely you already ARE that 'better and stronger' person - just sometimes circumstance can appear and be so crushing of heart and spirit that one could easily be left with the feeling/impression that one IS the circumstance and thus feels diminished by it... and then the danger is one gets stuck in that belief. i always appreciated that saying (attributed to carl g jung) " if you feel you are going through hell ..... keep walking"

so very well said....thank you so much for this. Having discovered the "therapy" of walking has been such a blessing to me. Sometimes I think it's the only thing that is pulling me through! - that and God.

 

[Cailin O Eire]

Lovely words, so true. Who knows why one thing leads to another? Just got to go with it, I guess. Have a wonderful camino.
Rita

 

[gypsywind]

by the way Linda, I got one of those skirts you told me about - can't wait to try it out! thanks so much...

I have been looking for a skirt I can wear over leggings, or not, and maybe even feel like i am not on the trail at dinner !!

 

[Angie94]

Another member told me about a skirt (I ordered one after I checked it out) it's called a Royal Robbins Discovery Skirt UPF 50 (stretch, quick dry nylon) and has one zip pocket on one side and a flap pocket on the other side and a flap pocket down on the bottom part of the skirt. It is VERY comfy and I think it will hold up nicely

 

[Bethesda um]

As I set out on my "training hike" yesterday in a chilly 32 degree day accompanied by intermittent snow and sleet I began to ponder my circumstances. Then I began to reflect on the actual word 'circumstance' and later looked it up just to see what the dictionary had to say about this particular word....
"a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another"
While I can't say I am grateful or even appreciate the circumstances that have led me to this point in my life - a complete upheaval of my life including relocating, new job, and multiple losses and lots of anger, what I can say is I am grateful that they "determined another" set of circumstances which brought me to Ohio. I started taking some short walks, hoping to dispel some angry feelings as I stomped around the park. I then met a lady that I occasionally walk with that told me about a pilgrimage she did called the Camino de Santiago. It stirred something inside me, which led me to research it online, which led me to this forum. By reading the many wonderful posts and asking questions I actually began to believe I could do this. The hope and inspiration that fellow forum members offer here is priceless. I don't know what the future holds for me, as none of us really do, but I have committed to doing this walk (May 15th, 2016) and hopefully can regain my spiritual footing as I once had.
p.s. yesterday I finally hit 15 miles with my pack! I was so happy with my new accomplishment as I have been trying to get there for a while now. I was cold....but happy!! Buen Camino

Wow! What a wonderful wonderful inspiration you've shared.
"Circumstances" indeed. Great, wholesome and deeply moving perspective.

buen camino my friend!!

 

[melindafromtexas]

As I set out on my "training hike" yesterday in a chilly 32 degree day accompanied by intermittent snow and sleet I began to ponder my circumstances. Then I began to reflect on the actual word 'circumstance' and later looked it up just to see what the dictionary had to say about this particular word....
"a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another"
While I can't say I am grateful or even appreciate the circumstances that have led me to this point in my life - a complete upheaval of my life including relocating, new job, and multiple losses and lots of anger, what I can say is I am grateful that they "determined another" set of circumstances which brought me to Ohio. I started taking some short walks, hoping to dispel some angry feelings as I stomped around the park. I then met a lady that I occasionally walk with that told me about a pilgrimage she did called the Camino de Santiago. It stirred something inside me, which led me to research it online, which led me to this forum. By reading the many wonderful posts and asking questions I actually began to believe I could do this. The hope and inspiration that fellow forum members offer here is priceless. I don't know what the future holds for me, as none of us really do, but I have committed to doing this walk (May 15th, 2016) and hopefully can regain my spiritual footing as I once had.
p.s. yesterday I finally hit 15 miles with my pack! I was so happy with my new accomplishment as I have been trying to get there for a while now. I was cold....but happy!! Buen Camino

Angie,
thanks for your post. While my choices to do the walk are different, I am hoping to find that new outlook on life too! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Angie94]

Buen Camino Melinda!

 

[SafariGirl]

dear Angie 94 - The word 'circumstance' triggered a quote I've re-read just yesterday, as it was quote in another book. and to me, they always provide amazing food for thought and contemplation, off and on camino/pilgrimages.

By Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" - transl Ilse Lasch, rev. and enl ed., Boston, 190, pp 65-66.
you probably know of it already or even have read it.
Here are a few bits that truly resonated on the subject of circumstance:
"....they may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
And there were always choices to be made. Every day, every hour offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the playthings of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate. [...] ....Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. .... [...] ...bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom can not be lost. ..."
(the book is about his time in a so called concentration camp).
any emotions, anger or other, don't simply get dispelled and evaporate into thin air.... one learns to face them first. and a pilgrimage can be a blessed time of facing those emotions within.
it literally can get one into motion (which is part of that word) and action.
sounds like you are on a good path - inwardly and outwardly! and May is approaching 'fast'...
very best wishes -- buen camino ... c.

Thank you for reminding me of this Amorfati1. It's a long time since I read it and it crosses my path again on just the right day for me, thanks to your signpost. <3

 

[SafariGirl]

It was her..
That's mah story.

It was Angie..
Some of us it seems sometimes find a missing yearning...and it fits in with a bigger puzzle.
I cant speak for none but myself..but ime sure there is a common thread binding people to the road.

Mine?
Escape. I felt the withering that the leaves feel at winters touch.
Only to find on letting go?
I enjoyed, embraced! the freedom that severing a tie, bound to tightly..loosed at last.
The wimters leaves are not sad
They are free.

You may not see it
Until you know it.

That self same artisan..the wind, which shapes trees, also shapes the leaves for their leaving.

You never see them fall as if weighted down by gravity
Some...
Pirouette to the embrace
Some
Waltz to and fro in the gentle embrace at last.

We
Loosed from whichever bind
Walk the roads the same..

Some defy gravity and have full use of the breeze
Some must obey the laws amid the rings of age,and slowly drift...

Some fall into the River of Stars and wend slowly long the way...

But all in common... are falling toward Santiago.

Angie.
I hope you find what was
What is
And what shall be

The answers are somewhere,out there
There is Always an answer
There is always a Way.

Let go of the ties and dance on the winds!

All of the Pilgrims
Be blessed on your Way

Thank you William Garza...your words spoke to me.

 

[J F Gregory]

Angie
I have been in similar circumstances, in my life. From a good job to homelessness with a family of 5. At one point in my life I couldn't see any hope. The anger and bitterness was eating me alive, but by the grace of God and only his grace have I overcome. All of the things I have learned the most important one is, If not for those experiences I wouldn't be the person I am today. And life goes on. I am walking my Camino in March and April and I have no idea why. But I expect it to add to my life in a significant way. I started my Camino when I started walking and training for my walk 5k 3 times a week and 20-25k on weekends, I continue to learn about my life all 65 years of it.
Ultreya
Buen Camino

 

[Angie94]

The anger and bitterness was eating me alive, but by the grace of God and only his grace have I overcome.

Others experience are really the only thing shine some light at the end of the tunnel for me. I know God is there and is there for me...but tapping into the experience of others (as that seems to carry more weight with me at the present time) lets me know that I can weather the storm. There are those who are in much worse circumstances and their burdens are much greater than mine. I feel frustrated that I can't easily slip back into my normal mode of being - which is typically very grateful for all that I do have. I am truly hoping this pilgrimage will help bring back to my center, which I greatly miss. Thanks for your comment

 

[J F Gregory]

Others experience are really the only thing shine some light at the end of the tunnel for me. I know God is there and is there for me...but tapping into the experience of others (as that seems to carry more weight with me at the present time) lets me know that I can weather the storm. There are those who are in much worse circumstances and their burdens are much greater than mine. I feel frustrated that I can't easily slip back into my normal mode of being - which is typically very grateful for all that I do have. I am truly hoping this pilgrimage will help bring back to my center, which I greatly miss. Thanks for your comment

Keep looking forward !

Ultreya

 

[Angie94]

dear Angie 94 - The word 'circumstance' triggered a quote I've re-read just yesterday, as it was quote in another book. and to me, they always provide amazing food for thought and contemplation, off and on camino/pilgrimages.

By Victor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" - transl Ilse Lasch, rev. and enl ed., Boston, 190, pp 65-66.
you probably know of it already or even have read it.

Actually I haven't read it, but after reading your passage from it, I fully intend to!

I had a few extra minutes yesterday so I decided to pop in our local thrift shop and browse around in the book section, not looking for anything in particular (never do, just wait til something catches my eye!) I turn the corner to head down the aisle of endless used literature and my eyes settled on the shelf directly in front of me and as I tilted my head to the side in order to read the titles the first one my eyes locked onto was "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl. A coincidence? I think not...and the best part? It was only .29 cents!! I will save reading this paperback for my long flight over...Buen Camino and thank you again for the tip on this book!