a celebration of 60 years of life
I turned 60 years old today. YAY ME!
And although I can celebrate the "me" who has carried this story of Kathy for so long, as I grow older (and perhaps a little wiser), I see that I am a movement of life itself, rather than an individual, small, separate self.
I am a continuation of my mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. All the women who have ever been. I am a continuation of my father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, all the men I have ever been. In my DNA is my ancestry. I am not just "me".
And the things I love, yoga, walking, nature, these are not 'mine', but belong to all of us who love to move our bodies, who love to connect and remember the earth and to honour and love the natural world around us.
Ultimately I am love. Jesus said - "I am The Way", and as I walk the famous "Way" of El Camino de Santiago, I see the hundreds of other pilgrims along this WAY all of us doing our best to arrive into each moment, to arrive into the love that we are. Not following the figure of Jesus, but the spirit of love.
The kindness of strangers, the coincidences and miracles, the transformations that I have been witness to over the past 10 days while walking the Camino have been marvellous to witness. And my wish is that The Way continues, far beyond these two weeks. That The Way is the way of life, of love, of connection and of truth.
We have been doing The Work of Byron Katie on this pilgrimage, and I have been so clear at noticing when a dark thought, a thought that would talk me into a story, take me away from love of myself or others, when those thoughts appear, they have been met with openess, a smile and and appreciation that there seems to be a choice. I can believe those dark thoughts or I can choose to see them as clouds.
And today on my birthday we had plenty of clouds. For Real. It rained and rained and rained. As one of my fellow travellers joked, it only rained once today. Because it rained without stopping!
But the rain was unable to dampen my spirits. I felt joy. I was at peace. I walked with a new friend and we laughed. I celebrated my birthday - a number such as 60 would have felt really old when I was a kid. And today I felt like a kid splashing in puddles and enjoying the mud.
So grateful and so free. This is The Way. Thank you yoga. Thank you Byron Katie, Thank you my family, friends and Thank You LOVE.