In August for the second year in the row I walked the way. In 2020, in between 2 lockdowns I walked 800 kms + on the Camino Frances crossing Spain east to west. This year I was on the Portuguese way from Coimbra to Finisterre and Muxia for another long walk of about 550 kms. This is going beyond classical hiking I was used to for years. Here, it’s about repetition of walking during several weeks. Walking everyday 20, 25, 30 kms or more, without any day off. This experience has been so important to me that after repeating in 2021, I’m already thinking of the next big walk to come. I’ve realized many important lessons, which I believe are also meaningful in the business world.
These are 3 of them :
– Back to simple but intense and long physical effort is anchoring your soul in the present. Exactly like a long meditation. Walking, eating, washing clothes, sleeping, waking up early and walking again. This is like spring cleaning for your soul, and it has also the power to flare up underlying conditions, probably when like me, you didn’t do it on a regular basis. This is bringing up the morale and bringing down anxiety. This is helping you to digest stuff you stored in the back of your mind and make sense out of it. It is freeing up your mind.
– By slowing down you see the world differently, more colourful and richer. You feel a climb or a descent in your knees, you see the sun rays shining in the shell of the white snails arranged like a bunch on that stem, you listen to the morning bird songs, you experience the resonance of the silence, and you smell the humidity filling up the scents of the forest. You can feel you are part of it, not a visitor anymore. Just part of this whole nature around you.
– You thought you were alone walking here but in fact you get support, you find help even without asking. You feel surrounded by kindness. I can’t say why, but that is a feeling experienced by so many pilgrims. Because of this, deep in, you feel ready to simply meet people. Less bias, you just meet them. Listen to them. Look at them. And feel inspired by the incredible diversity and richness of their stories. You get enriched and you wonder what prevent you to be that opened in everyday life?
What if we would apply this in our business life?
Imagine how it would feel like if you would include a real and long regeneration exercise in your life every year (being a long walk or something else but with the necessary duration)?
Imagine how you would be creative by changing your time paradigm. From racing to experiencing slowness, to explore a different depth of thinking.
Imagine how you would impact people around you by really embracing diversity and open your heart at the first glance?