I have traveled with a sense of openness and adventure and curiosity. I have traveled, not just with my body but with my mind and heart, my soul and my spirit. I have been part of a ‘moveable community’ of fellow pilgrims who bear witness to each other’s journeys. I recognize in the faces of other pilgrims the state of my own soul: I know, deep in the deepest place of knowing, that even though I still am who I am, I have been changed and transformed and will never again be the same.
Elizabeth Kaeton
Welcome to Day Five of Live Your Life As a Sacred Pilgrimage
It’s hard to imagine returning from a long pilgrimage unchanged. Having traveled far, encountered unexpected joys, weathered challenges, and shared gifts along the way, the person who began the quest is undoubtedly transformed. Some changes may be obvious and others revealed slowly over time, initially unknown even to the traveler. What a pilgrim does upon returning home may be the most important part of the journey.
The 15th century mystic Kabir wrote: “I felt in need of a great pilgrimage, so I sat still for three days…,” leaving us with an intriguing koan and the suggestion that the most important pilgrimage we make is the one within our own hearts and minds. Like walking a labyrinth, life as a sacred pilgrimage invites you to the center of your being. It is simultaneously a journey that takes you out into the world but also more deeply and meaningfully into yourself. A complete pilgrimage returns you home anew.
Become Present
Begin this last day of the practice by reading David Whyte’s poem, Santiago; write down words or phrases that speak to you. With particular attention to the last nine lines of the poem, take a few moments to reflect on the following question: What would it mean to live your life in such a way that you arrived, ultimately and fully, home to yourself?
Practice and Reflect
Pick one activity you do regularly that you could approach as a mini-pilgrimage of sorts — a daily walk, a trip to the grocery store, your work commute, or a morning cup of coffee or tea. You might also focus on travel or some other experience on the near horizon. Drawing on the week’s practice, be as specific as you can about your plans.
- What intention or touchstone will guide your mini-pilgrimage?
- How will you remain open to unexpected gifts along the way?
- If you find yourself weary, how might you adjust your plans to allow for rest?
- Where is there opportunity to shine light for others?
Afterward, take time to reflect: Did approaching this activity as a sacred pilgrimage bring new meaning to the experience? In what ways were you or those around you enriched by your intention?
The writer Annie Dillard reminds us that “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” As you practice the art of pilgrimage in your daily activities, consider the ways that this contributes to living your whole life as a pilgrimage — a sacred journey you’re creating step by step, day by day, year by year. It is yours to create and yours to travel. May you be blessed every step of the way.
Share
Please share your reflections. You might respond to the question about arriving fully home to yourself or share how you are experimenting with the mini-pilgrimage practice. We also welcome any closing reflections on your experience in the practice overall and what you hope to carry forward.
Deepening Resources
Explore these 30 Daily Gratitude Practice Ideas and choose two or three that will support your efforts to live life as a sacred pilgrimage.
This beautiful poem and blessing by Jan Richardson offers great wisdom for all seekers: For Those Who Have Far to Travel.
Please look for a final email tomorrow that will include links to each day’s practice so that you may return to the resources at your leisure.
Photo by Simon Berger
What a delight to have done this sacred pilgrimage…..my eyes, heart, soul , and mind are more open to the universe, to mother nature, to friends, to family, and to people.
And , I thank you All for this mini retreat , and even more thanks for motivating me to ” apply pilgrimages” into my daily activities. So beautiful!!!
From the bottom of my heart….my deepest appreciation for this 5 day pilgrimage.
Sending you positive chi
Thank you for joining us Mandy, and we are wishing you rich journeys ahead full of grateful moments!
Looking at everything in life as a sacred pilgrimage is such a gift. Thanks for this beautiful min-retreat.It has helped me be more present in my life as well as treasuring any encounters be it with nature, people , animals, trees or the sun! Sending much love your way!
Many thanks for joining us Fernando and blessings to you on your journey!
SKR
I had company for most of the 5 days of my pilgrimage so i am late in reporting in my journal. i wrote in the first day response but here i am going to condense a few days into one entry: On day 2 i was asked to pay attention to what called to me and what inspired me as i walked through my day. First i noticed how gorgeous the hills around me have blossomed into so many shades of green speckled with wild mustard flowers everywhere and poppies and specs of miscellaneous colors in-between and how the light garnished it all with shadows of trees. When we stopped for lunch i noticed a gorgeous 3 month old child tracking all glorious sights in front of her..people, lights on the ceiling and anyone who stopped to say hello to the bright eyed little girl. she saw it all with wonder and responded with sweet, smiling eyes. Mom and Dad beamed when i took time to reveal my observations of how miraculous she was to respond and track so attentively and joyfully.
Another day i took a walk with my friend and we stopped at our local post office which has at least 3 cairns in front and we added our stones to each one, offering our reactions to my community and my gratefulness and appreciation for living here.
Next day we walked along my local beach to appreciate the clear, but very cold day, and marvel at the huge waves and snowy plover birds scampering across the sand, so it was easy to center, soften and release that day and comfort myself with my breathing and braided my rope of gratitude for my dear friend, gorgeous environment and artistic perceptions to take home and create later (which we did).
I am late in completing the last day of the pilgrimage exercise. The five days went by too quickly. This guided practice enhanced with the poetry, videos, readings, and fellow traveler’s reflections was truly a unique, inspiring, and informative experience.
The daily practices with a focus on single aspects of life’s sacred pilgrimage gave a much-welcomed structure. My approach to recent challenges was like a squirrel in the middle of the road – running back and forth – one berm. to the center of the road, to the other berm. Over the last five days I have taken the first steps for the next chapter of my life with clarification of intentions, appreciation of touchstones, gratitude for challenges, embracement of the present, and distillation of the gifts from the regrets of the past.
In closing, a simple but very heartfelt thank you to all who made this journey possible.
Here’s something interesting that I found: https://www.asacredjourney.net/types-of-pilgrimage/
And here is my poem:
In the Days Before the Miracle
When you make your sacred pilgrimage,
do not go to France or Spain, or Saudi Arabia,
nor the Western Wall, nor the banks of the Ganges.
Set foot outside your own door,
and take a step, and another and another.
Breathe deeply of the air; release your lists and earworms.
In this fallow time, sow new seeds, sing new songs inside
as you look out over mailboxes and roads,
streets of shops or houses.
What you find surprises you sometimes:
share your surprises with others; enjoy the sharing.
Do not count your steps. You may grow tired.
Stop to sit where you can see the horizon or a patch of sky.
Study the crevices of rotting logs.
Restack spilled bricks, draw maps in the dirt or sand.
Find yourself in the center of a map; feel your joy.
Your poem is a gift! Thank you!
Arriving home to myself would include the awareness of providing a legacy for my loved ones. There would be the long-awaited dialogue with my partner about our hopes, disappointments, and how to move forward. The forgiveness toward several people in my past and present that I am able to offer will take place, and, with it, the sense of peace. Most importantly, I will have arrived at a place of acting, believing, and trusting so that I would welcome all undeserved, nonmaterial gifts of love, connection and grace.
Morning walk. Heel, toe; heel toe; heel toe. Must not fall again, I say. Lily dog adjusts her stride as we enjoy the outdoors. If I get weary, I can always stop and observe children playing at school across the street, the flags blowing in the spring breezes, and the blossoms on the school yard trees. The billowy white clouds disappeared though, and today are replaced by a grey polluted sky. A neighbor drives by, stops to say hi then worries about my dog not wearing a sweater in the cold air. Heel, toe; heel, toe; heel, toe. Lily and I are just fine as we turn to go back home. This is the day I’m meeting with my sister and cousins for lunch. We always laugh a lot while sharing our stories. This is not only a mini-pilgrim day, but also a day to come home to myself in a thoughtful and reflective way. I love the way Brother David says, “it is not just another day.” I hope that a little shining light from me reflected on my loving family and maybe even the lovely restaurant server and the chef.
Life as a Sacred Pilgrimage: YES!
The prompts you have provided help me set intentions for the day. Poetry, quotes, inspiring videos, acts of kindness, and moments of awe all help remind me of this truth.
Life as a Spiral: YES!
The resources are often ones that circle back to other parts of my life. On this five day experience I have experienced them at a deeper level.
Life as gratitude: YES!
As I walked each step of the last five days, my life is overflowing with abundance and gratitude.
Life as synchronicity: YES!
With a slower pace and more generous attention, I am able to savor these sacred moments (e.g. Rumi quote about the Shepherd on the same day a former student posted a video of her singing on her patio about the Shepherd).
Life (as Parker Palmer describes) is lived on the Mobius Strip: YES!
Moving seamlessly from the inner to the outer has been heighened during these days.
With these perspectives and practices, I am more fully able to live with intention, move toward my true north, gradually become whole, give away my gifts, and live with deep joy.
May it be so.
All life is gift. Grateful.
Today I experienced my mini sacred pilgrimage as I had a cat scan and a procedure at the hospital. The worm under my skin was taken out and I will have many follow up visits which will also be sacred journeys. My nurse was indeed an angel, young and about to have her first child. We talked about dogs, of which she has 4 and my dearest Tessa died last July. Tessa is certainly one of my guides on this path of life. I loved the poetry of today and yesterday, and I feel blessed by them once again as I had used them in the Art Services at our church. They too were gifts then and now. The road ahead is as always uncertain, but my feet will carry me on.
Today I set the intention to experience my lunch with two friends as a sacred pilgrimage– into the territory of deep heartful listening and speaking I may imagine this is the last time I will be with them , not as something I will speak of, but as a prompt to presence and appreciation
On the purple road of my mini sacred pilgrimage the car clock suddenly read 8:88
I must reply. This happens to me a lot! I’ve been very amused by it. Do you think it’s just coincidence? I don’t know, but I just observe it. It happens at all different hours and numbers.