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I recently returned from a walking pilgrimage on the Camino de Compostela in northern Spain. It was a journey of faith, release and renewal. Most of all it was a journey of love.

Five things I learned about life while walking the Camino:

Follow the signs- We walked the Camino by following the yellow arrows and markers that show the way. There are always signs along the journey of life if we pay attention on the path.

Yes I can – Our longest day was walking 17 miles. I worried and often doubted if I would be able to finish. On the trail we just kept walking. It’s the same in life. Wherever we are headed we can get there if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Be Here Now – On the Camino I wasn’t thinking about the project I was working on at home, or what was I going to do when I returned. I was in the moment following the yellow arrows. In doing that I saw the beautiful scenery, visited inspirational churches, chatted with fellow pilgrims. Being in the moment allowed me to truly experience the richness of the culture and countryside and appreciate the blessings of the moment.

Prayer works – we were blessed to have so many friends and family praying for us. Prayers were answered as we safely finished our journey and joyously arrived in Santiago. We had warm, sunny weather, amazing food, wonderful hotels. Thank you God!

Love is the way – I was grateful for the compassion and love of our fellow pilgrims. We shared our snacks, band aids, ointment and ibuprofen. We looked out for each other and cared for each other. We met other inspired pilgrims along the way.

Every day is a walk in love. Every day is an opportunity to experience God’s blessings and gifts on our journey of life.

I’ve been working with forgiveness for the past few weeks. Mother Theresa said, “If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.” I noticed how limited I am when I have separation with another in my life.

It is easier to forgive when I learn to reflect and not react. Reacting to behavior of others causes stress and pain.
Dr. Wayne Dyer stated it best, “How do you get world peace? You get world peace through inner peace. If you’ve got a world full of people who have inner peace, then you have a peaceful world.” I’m practicing.

I’ve had the sniffles on and off. I became more diligent in washing my hands and taking my vitamins. I just upgraded my computer with the latest antivirus software with a firewall and spyware.

Then it occurred to me, how am I protecting my thinking? It’s the most vulnerable. News of shaky job market and a faltering economy feeds into any beliefs of lack and limitation. Comparing myself to others inflames my self-judgment. Worrying about the future feeds into doubt and despair.

Fortunately, I remembered I have my own virus protection plan: Prayer, speaking my covenant, giving thanks for my blessings, meeting with my spiritual mentor, praying with my prayer partners, reading inspired spiritual authors, forgiving hurts and blessing my life. I have a virus protection plan. I just need to activate it daily.

“Your personal welfare begins with your consciousness. It is not what happens on Wall Street. It is not the “state of the economy.” It has its inception in the state of your mind. You can be prosperous when business is poor, and you can experience financial difficulties even when business is booming.” Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth

It is so easy to get sidetracked by what is on the news or what our neighbor said or what our family thinks of us. It takes practice to stay centered on spiritual truth, knowing that God is the only source of our supply. All good comes from God. It may come to us through a company, person, opportunity. But the source is God.

Knowing that frees us from being victim of the world around us. Practicing makes it reality in our lives.

Is it ok to ask for what you want without feeling guilty? Yes, if you understand the Law of Receptivity: Whatever I give out graciously, comes back to me multiplied. Usually guilt crops up if we’ve been afraid to give because we believe there’s not enough. Then we are hesitant to ask or even receive our good because we’ve already been stingy and fearful and holding back with our giving.

Practice giving a compliment, a card, an email, a phone call. Then work your way up to  taking someone to coffee or practicing an act of kindness. Stretch your giving genes and open the space to receive. God has plenty to give when you are ready to receive. Praise God!

Imagination is an incredible gift from God. The astonishing progress we’ve seen in our world over the last century came about because people imagined great things and took action.

Imagination has a down side. It’s called fear. The body doesn’t know the difference between what is imagined and what is real. So when we allow our imagination to focus on negative thoughts, our emotions activate fear, often derailing our goals and sending us into a downward spiral.

I observed this when I was back east a few weeks ago visiting my family. My Dad was completely distraught after watching the news. Even though the distressing events had not occurred, he was feeling fear for the future. My attempt to explain that the news people were projecting what might happen were futile. My proposal to watch a movie instead of the news was scoffed at. My suggestion to pray instead of worry, well, that just wasn’t practical at all.

It’s really a shame. My Dad’s not alone. We all get caught up in the cycle of replaying negative projections over and over again. It can be hazardous to our health, both individually and collectively.

Instead of focusing on the fear of the future we can take personal actions to lift us out of the fear. Instead of allowing the imagination to dwell on all the catastrophic things that could happen, we can visualize postive outcomes. Instead of repeating all the doom and gloom we hear on the news, we could say a prayer.

God gave us an incredible gift by giving us imaginations. As we use our imaginations for good, amazing results show up in our lives.

Question is, what are you imagining?

Today brings back so many memories. Especially this year with the loss of my husband Laurence. We were married on September 1st ten years ago.

My prayer is for compassion, peace and love. For our country and all humanity.