Tuesday November 21, I will set off from Lisbon. A month of walking alone, to follow the Portuguese Camino and reach Santiago. For my fourth year at the Camino school, I am leaving strong in the knowledge that each time I have learned beyond all expectations. I learned through lived experience, over time and in the body. By sharing during incredibly varied encounters. Also, and above all, because I didn't have a program. But what have I learned so far? What am I richer about internally, after these first three years on the Camino? 🌿 I have learned that life is much richer when I don't try to plan or control it, but rather when I am open to all possibilities, when I listen to the present moment, to the people I I meet. This attitude makes me very sensitive to opportunities, to incredible synchronicities.This is a key lesson from my first Camino. 🌿 I understood during my second Camino the power of words. The right words. When I take the time to choose them. On feelings, on feelings, on things. And in doing so, it gives meaning and allows us to share in an authentic way. And from there, all the richness of deep, sincere and authentic sharing.
🌿 I learned that I could live very frugally, with very few material needs, and that I loved it. That it helped me feel like I belonged. It has made me much more sober in my everyday life.
🌿 I learned to listen to my body. To welcome possible pain as so many benevolent signals. To trust him to carry me gently but surely along my path.
🌿 I learned to see and feel the connection with nature in my soul. With the trees, the rivers, the animals, the grandiose landscapes. And to feel part of something bigger than myself which opened my spirituality in a new way, towards the love of life in the broad sense.
🌿 I learned that I deeply love beauty, and that it nourishes me. In fact, I put words to something that was inside me, but that I hadn't really been aware of.
🌿 I discovered the joys of freedom. And this guides my choices of activities, relationships, etc. with a permanent concern to preserve it.
🌿 I learned that I could do coaching while walking, and I made it my activity with the mission of introducing it to as many people as possible.
🌿 I became aware of all the deep needs that the long walk nourishes in me: freedom, meaning, the connection to something greater than me, simplicity, sincerity, sharing, creativity, calm, health , light, self-discovery, listening, awareness, depth, clarity, beauty, harmony. And above all the need to learn about myself.I don't know of any other activity capable of meeting so many needs.
🌿 I learned dozens of stories that I love to share.And more broadly, I like to share with others the lessons I receive from life.
🌿 I met people on the Camino, and between the Caminos (through the open-mindedness they gave me), who share their friendship with me, and their own knowledge, like so many keys (readings, music, ideas, ways of seeing, practices, knowledge, stories, etc.), which enrich me.
🌿 I learned patience. I learned that everything happens in the end, when I simply, consistently put one foot in front of the other, in the direction that suits me.I learned to trust time. 🌿 I learned that I learned things that I am not yet aware of, but that are already within me, to emerge when I need them. And it strengthens my confidence in myself. I don't know of any other school able to provide this.😊 Francois Thouret