What's Your Story?

Here are some of the people we are meeting on the Camino de Santiago Trail as we cross Spain. 

Pope Francis has stuck in my mind from the deaf-blind papal audience I went to two years ago  He encouraged the world to focus more on encounter. That is, meeting every person we meet everyday with significance and meaning.  He was telling us the modern world was focused more on exclusion, differences and what divides us.  Give love and we get it back in spades.

On the hiking trail, it is all about encounter as you hike and the personal stories of the people we are meeting are amazing. 

What goes around comes around... 

Mary Lou runs a field clinic at the morning coffee stop

Mary Lou is from Texas and she is a physical therapist.  Her husband Dennis passed away last year and she came to walk the Camino to spread his ashes.  Father Loc Trinh blessed his ashes and those of another friend.  

Dennis was a cyclist and dreamed of visiting the Tour de France and never made it.  Mary Lou decided that since the Camino is so close to the Tour de France course she would walk over 500 miles to reflect on the next chapter of her life and honor her husband in a very special and personal way.

We ran into her later and really were in bad shape. Father Loc's Achilles surgery had left scar tissue and the rigors of the trail left him with no option - he could not wear shoes.  He spent 3 days hiking in worn sandals.  Mary Lou gave him electro-stimulation therapy,  cold gel and taping to get him back in action.  

The circle of generosity works that way on the Camino.

As we left a German hiker gave up a heel pad to Father Loc too. 

Father and Daughter - France

This story made us all well-up in tears.  We met at the hostal we were staying at.  As we chatted about ourselves, it just kept getting more and more interesting.  She is a lawyer for a non-profit in Paris that serves the blind.  She helps and advocates for them in France where the blind have many of the same challenges as in the United States.   I was on the Camino to do the Usher Syndrome Coalition project for World Usher's Day by arriving in Santiago on September 17th. #USHEQX #BILLSDEAFBLINDCAMINO

Then, we asked why are you on Camino? She looked at dad and they both welled up.  She lost a bet she said and was happy she did.  

Last fall, her brother and the dad's son was shot 3 times as a Paris policeman.  It was just before the big terrorist incident.  They were told that he would not make it with 2 bullets to the head.  As the hours and days went on they made the bet to walk the Camino if the brother/son made it.  He was in a coma for 3 weeks.  He lived.  He is a changed from the trauma physically but they say he is still the same to them.  The Paris police community have rallied to support, he does not complain  and he knew that was the risk as a policeman.  

They are on Camino in gratitude for what they came so close to losing. 

 ...and the stories go on and on.

This adventure project is to celebrate a life-long journey with Usher Syndrome- a devastating disease that robs its victims of their hearing and vision progressively decade by decade. There are no treatments or cures.  After 33 days of hiking, my guides and I will be arriving in Santiago on September 16th in celebration of Usher Syndrome World Awareness Day. 

If you are interested in supporting this project, you can go to www.classy.org/billbarkeley

Thanks for reading and feel free to share with the world. 

We finally upgraded Father Loc to the performance sandal category.  The Camino is not the beach Padre!

Reaching Beyond Yourself

The vision is bold and it is bigger than you.

Make hay while the sun shines

What's next? 

The 8 hour hike today begins... 

Chaos. Confusion. Energy. Adrenaline. Frustration. Elation. Doubt. Creativity. Fear. Excitement. Isolation. Connectedness. Engagement. Anger. Passion. Moodiness. Relief. Calm. Depression. Anxiety. Determination.

....and a whole lot more!

You will experience every emotion under the sun.

Literally.

Today is the day we reached a place that many say Ernest Hemingway put on the map.  His book "The Sun Also Rises" tells of young travelers going from France down to Spain. 

We are young but our spirit to walk the Camino de Santiago from France into Spain is no less compelling to us as a team of 4 -comprised of 3 hikers guiding the deaf-blind adventurer.

We are taking on one of the oldest hikes on the planet going strong at over 1200 years. It is an athletic, spiritual, emotional and intellectual pilgrimage to boot.

It is about reaching into oneself, disconnecting from the modern world to help each other on the expedition team get a better sense of clarity as to who we are and how we can each give our best to the world moving forward in our life journeys.

This is no small task. The process is like a fresh teabag being placed into a cup of fresh water.  This life-enriching brew called the Camino de Santiago is just starting to steep...so stay tuned to what we discover!

Today's compelling question for you is now that you have a vision for yourself that inspires you to give your best back to the world (after the first blog post question) is this:

"How will you reach beyond yourself?"

I can guarantee the flood of conflicted human emotions I described at the beginning of this update will derail your vision like a train-wreck unless you have mentally decided that you and only you - will define yourself and own your vision moving forward.

Vision does not arrive in a box one day, you open it up, and your life is good to go.  Don't shop your vision around for a bunch of approvals or high fives either. Ask to learn and be curious but don't be looking for permission to live. The world around you tells you what to think and do more than it ever should.  Well meaning and intentioned as it all may be - nobody lives in your mind 24/7 like you do.

So, turn on your own internal compass and GPS, that is the best place to start to build on and live your vision- from within.

"How will you reach beyond yourself?"

Do you want to run "with" the Bulls of Pamplona or run "from" the Bulls of Pamplona?

If you choose to run "with" the Bulls of Pamplona you are choosing to reach beyond yourself.  You are staring fear and risk in the face.  You are deciding the whole messy affair of chaotic mixed emotions are worth it.  You realize it may be for you and/or only the closest to you. People will say you are crazy and more.

Who am I to say if someone chooses to run "with" the Bulls of Pamplona?

They say deaf-blind people don't climb mountains, run marathons, lead expeditions into the Amazon jungle or raft the rapids of the Grand Canyon and more...but I do.  I may not do it the same way as everyone else does, but I do it.  If I strive to reaching beyond myself, no one can ever say I can't do something unless I let them.

If you choose to "run" from the Bulls of Pamplona you are not wrong. You are not a failure.  You are no less of a person.  It may actually be the best place for you based on life stage, time, circumstance and responsibility.

That said, to hide behind those factors or be aware of them when you purposefully decide to "run" from the Bulls of Pamplona, the risk you run is having the world define you rather than you defining yourself. 

If people always see you in the same light, never changing and maintaining the same course, year after year, decade by decade, you can become bogged down by others people's perceptions, stereotypes, assumptions and notions of you.

It is important to realize that if the "call to adventure" and giving your "best to the world" is unconsciously resisted and dismissed over and over in your life's journey it can be your albatross when want to reach beyond yourself purposefully. It's not a pretty feeling in life when you feel you are always are boxed in a corner and a bull is coming right for you day, after day, after day...

Your personal answer to my question whether to run "with" or run "from" the Bulls of Pamplona is merely an answer to a much larger and serious question in your life.

"How do you respond and react to the opportunities, barriers and challenges you have faced or will definitely face in your life journey?"

If you look back on your life's journey and your significant life decisions and read through them like tea leaves, you can and will discern patterns, behaviors and expectations that you have for yourself and others. We are all at this very moment the sum of all the moments we have had in our life journey so far.

Are you truly reaching beyond yourself enough?

The very beauty of life is in the very struggle of life. Accept the barriers or challenges of life. It will hone you, refine you, focus you and give you the resolve to overcome and transcend those barriers and challenges. The greatest satisfaction and rewards in life are the ones we made and earned rather than the ones that were just given to us.

That is, if the vision of running with the Bulls of Pamplona is attractive to you.

#USHEQX

#BILLSDEAFBLINDCAMINO

Pelegrino monument to hikers on Camino

Running With The Bulls of Pamplona Monument 

The Matador  

Ice cream is serious business