As the Paradigm Shifts | Called to Walk the Camino—the Way, in Spain

||| AS THE PARADIGM SHIFTS by ROSIE KUHN |||

“Recognizing that invitation within the depths of one’s heart, is the beginning of the process. And as the smile of inner recognition spreads across your face, you know, without knowing how, that a passionate, never-ending journey has begun.” -Oneness.

Ignited by the possibility that my daughter may move to Milan, Italy, for a few years, and being that I’m not a city person, I begin to consider what might be something that would bring me into nature, in Europe.  I’d heard about the Camino Santiago many years ago. With my daughter being relatively close to Spain, I felt a spark within me. Maybe I’m to walk the Camino Santiago—potentially a 4-6 week walk.

I’ve experienced callings like this many times and have said yes to pretty much every one of them. Outward Bound, at 16 years old, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in my 40’s, when I knew for sure that I was going to die—obviously I didn’t. Then, crossing the US to California, in my little VW Golf, to attend a Graduate Program in Transpersonal Psychology—I had no idea what that even was! After my Phd, Orcas Island called me—that was 20 years ago. These are just a few of the many callings that have brought me to this moment—another Calling. JEESH!

I’ve learned a lot about Callings. First of all, it’s an experience that is unforgettable. Once you’ve felt the spark in your heart, the lightening of the spirit, the smile that crosses your face, you know, without a doubt, that something bigger than you has just invited you to step out of your comfort zone and into being you—You!!!

To Walk or Not to Walk—That’s Not the Question
The “Should I’s?” and the “Can I’s?” and the “Do I want to?” and the “Will I?” and the “How will I?” “How will I afford it?” “When Do I Go?” all arise to be answered. As I swat away these questions and thoughts, like a swarm of gnats, I still sense this niggling sensation, which sometimes grows into something undeniably amazing. While, at other times it feels pretty insignificant and seems to evaporate into thin air. It’s like the hiccups—just when you think they are gone, another round arises! Hiccup!

If the question isn’t to walk or not to walk, then what is the question? This is the challenge! You can’t know until you know!

Callings
Most people have them. And, most people ignore and distract themselves from these sometimes-irrepressible outburst of inspiration. These sensations lay outside the comfort zone of most of us. They lay outside one’s rights and wrongs, good and bad, should’s and shouldn’t’s. They often seem to have no pragmatic value. “People will think I’m crazy if I do that!” 

My experience and the experience of friends of mine who are also very familiar with being Called, is that it is an invitation to know yourself outside your comfort zone, outside your should’s and shouldn’ts. You are invited to experience who you are beyond who you think you are—beyond your constrained and limited context of yourself.

Are Callings Just About Adventures in the World?
Being called to outdoor adventures take most of us out of our armchairs, away from the busyness of our everyday life. This is when we have the opportunity to disconnect from technology and distractions, which keep us from being in direct engagement with ourselves.

Callings can be anything or anyone. Relationships with significant others can be a calling. Health issues can be a calling. Work and profession, creativity, prosperity and poverty, spirituality and religion, generosity, giving up a habit or addiction, or cultivating new ones—callings come in all forms, and there is a never-ending supply of them.

Do I Have to Answer the Call with a Yes?
This brings me back to what is the Calling about. What is the intention of this Calling? Why now? Why me? What’s being revealed through this invitation? Sometime, only by saying yes to a call can you feel the ease of being you. You can say no or yes. The consequences are self-revealing. There are always consequences—not good or bad, just consequences.

Here’s a very insignificant example, but for me, very telling: One of my best childhood friends is coming to Seattle in a few weeks. I haven’t seen her in decades. We keep in touch sparingly, and she and her husband have shared that they’d love to spend some time with me someday.

So, I get an email from her, saying they are coming to Seattle at the end of the month, that their schedule is packed and don’t have time to come to Orcas. They wondered if I’d be able to come see them for a day in Seattle.

This short invitation—a Calling, if you will, brought up a lot of stuff, such as: “I should go, I should want to go. They seem to want to pack me in with all the other friends and events they are coming to experience in Seattle. Why couldn’t they have given me more time with them?” Then, all of the other more practical thoughts: “Do I really have to go off Island? Will there be room on the ferries? Do I have to stay overnight in Seattle” On and on and on!!

Underneath all of these questions lay a truth that I needed to hear. It was beyond right and wrong, beyond being a good friend, beyond what I should do. The question I had to be with was this: By going, am I honoring my highest truth, my highest knowing—am I honoring myself? The answer was no. The consequence of answering this call with a no, was relief. I honored myself, which always feels good. I honored my friends by acknowledging and appreciation their invitation, and honoring them with my truth, rather than going because I should, or making up some excuse about being too busy. The consequence is, I feel good, happy and glad to have taken the time to feel directly into my truth!

Had I said yes, when I wanted to say no, is that I would have resented them for all kinds of things. I would have been frustrated, disappointed that I didn’t say no, or that they weren’t willing to make the time to…. I would have whined and complained and felt like a was a victim to social pressures—there weren’t any, other than the ones I made up in my head. So, we get to choose, the best we can, which consequences we are willing to live with. Every one of us is unique and can only choose to choose for ourselves.

Discernment
Most of us do what we are supposed to do—not what is true to us, for us. Most of us follow prescriptions—our doctor’s, our religion’s, our political party’s, our social network’s, in other words we defer to others, rather than to do what’s in our heart of hearts to do. Rarely do we take the time to discern what that actually is. “Just tell me what to do,” are the words we say to our doctors, for example, when we are ill—rather than listening to our own body-wisdom.

Sitting in the question of, how is this Calling inviting me to myself?” is a practice I encourage EVERYONE to do. It’s actually the foundation of the work I do with every one of my clients. I want them to train themselves to notice how they choose to choose what they choose. And, how to choose, not in service of fears or what other people might say, for instance. I want them to practice discerning who they are and how they be the fullest expression of their essential self. Truth is, the Calling is to be YOU in every moment of every day!

Truth is, I don’t have to go off to Spain to walk the Camino. I don’t have to do anything! But to discern what this Calling is inviting me into, again, I can only know that by staying present to what keeps showing up! And, if life aligns in a way that I find myself on the Camino, then I know that’s what I’m to do!

A couple of days ago, I had a sense that I “figured out” that I don’t need to walk the Camino. I started to let the idea go, feeling some relief that I’m finished with that piece of work. But no!! This morning, my friend Barbara, informed me that her friends had just started their walk on Camino today—the very route I intended to take!! Does this mean I’m supposed to go, or not go? A litany of questions begins all over again! Just like a good case of hiccups!

Watching myself, listening, being with all of it, putting it all down, seeing what shows up, not making anything of it—one way or another…. If nothing else, I’m learning a lot about myself, and how I’m choosing to choose what I choose—which is the point of the whole process!

I Don’t Want to, You Can’t Make Me!
Like me, you will be called on many adventures—big and small. Every one of them will be an opportunity to know yourself better. Funnily enough, you will not be able to escape knowing yourself better, facing consequences you’ve been wanting to avoid, regardless of how hard you try to avoid them. Say no to a Calling, or say yes! You will be enlightened about you, no matter what! Fun, right???