Latest Blog Posts
My friend Karen posted this on Facebook recently: “Fear knocked on the door. Love answered. No one was there.” Although I’m not a big Bible reader, I remember a passage similar to Karen’s post about perfect love casting out all fear. When I’m afraid, I do three things: focus on my breathing, noticing each long […]
I was desperate for a good night’s sleep. Three nights of tossing and turning made me really, really grouchy. After sharing with my grad school professor how frustrated I was, he said “mix it up. ” He suggested that I either: sleep on the sofa, or lie on the floor, or put my head […]
Dr. Bill Hale believes that people can be classified as one of three different types of punctuation mark: The Exclamation Points These are the “my way or the highway” folks who fight you for the sake of being right, who know best and are unwilling to believe there’s room for anyone else’s views or insights. […]
Picture the scene: a tarmac in the middle of nowhere. A small plane arrives, dropping off the next lucky group who’ll experience the magic of the South African bush. Off to the side is a group who must say goodbye. Hugs all around, but no one’s willing to board the plane. I found myself in […]
5. October 2011 We arrived in Santiago today, exhausted and pretty proud of ourselves. Receiving the “compostela,” the certificate from the church that recognizes your pilgrimage, is a pretty special moment. A mass in the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela is enough to move anyone to tears, coupled with the fact that the celebrant recognized […]
3. October 2011 As the day wore on and it got hotter, the storming began. Not the rain kind. The kind where everyone’s sniping about one another, wanting others to back off, or simply being crabby about life in general. This day’s hard. Lots of ascents and descents, a little less scenic and a lot […]
3 October 2011 It’s hot here on the Camino, with weather in the 80s and a cloudless sky. Today I’ve decided to walk the latter part of the day’s trek and ride out the first part in our “sag wagon.” The walkers are passing us by, laden with gear and sweating profusely. I’m in the […]
2. October 2011 A little less fresh and enthusiastic, the group set out for a 20+ km walk today. Group dynamics being what they are, the norming has set in: they’ve got the routine down…get up, eat, bandage/cream/lube up the feet, and pop on the boots. Get water bottles and Camelbaks filled and pile into […]
1. October 2011 Today was the day that the worst imaginable happened: My body ached and I couldn’t keep up with the group. I told them to go on ahead when I really wanted someone to stay with me and cheer me on. We agreed to meet at km marker 100, and when I finally […]
Back in my HR and training days, we talked a lot about group dynamics. When a group of people come together, there’s a process that typically transpires: Forming, Norming, StormStng and Performing. Forming is what our little band of “caministas,” as we call the women who are on this retreat with us, is busy doing […]
