Cleaning Up the Mess (by Michal Rinkevich)

Photo by Michal Rinkevich.

I arrived at Terradillos de los Templarios earlier this afternoon, and discovered an incredibly authentic and humble village with a population of eighty registered residents.

The village, formerly a stronghold of the Knights Templar order, is such a contrast to city of Burgos, which we passed only a few days ago. After immersing myself in nature and simplicity for much of the last seventeen days, city life felt overbearing and unnecessarily polluted. I got to think about all the garbage, and perhaps all the mess, we create in our lives and often leave behind.

While travelling, we often see signs asking us to keep a place clean or at least as clean as we found it. The Camino offers a completely different mindset. Can you actually leave a place in a better condition than the way you found it?

You quickly learn that, even though there’s a sense of physical cleanliness, the mess we often leave behind is not limited to physical garbage. We can litter with our negative thoughts, words, emotions, intention, and actions. On the Camino, if I happen to walk when there are other people around, I can often sense the nature of thoughts or state of mind of the person walking in front of me. It’s as if the trail that their thoughts and mood leave behind is as tangible as the trail of their footsteps.

What mess did you create in your life and are you ready to take responsibility for it and clean it up? Since most (if not all) situations in life are at least some sort of a two-way street, you taking responsibility for your actions doesn’t mean the other person will do the same.

What will it take to clean up your mess and are you prepared to do it regardless of whether the other person takes responsibility for their actions and behaviour?

A couple of years back, I asked to meet a friend whom I felt my actions hurt. I could see my share of the issues between us and I wanted to clean it up. I said I was sorry, and when a moment of silence came in return, I almost immediately heard a voice inside of me (our friend, the Ego) wanting her to apologize as well. I had to fight that voice, understanding that my process had little to do with hers. Whether she chose to take responsibility or not, or even thought that there was a mess to clean up, was not up to me. I noticed how much lighter and how thankful I felt after apologizing and owning my mistakes. It was truly a gift.

That got me thinking about our time on this planet and the trail we’d like our life to leave. It could be petals of growth, love, and creativity, and it could be thorns of anger and envy. One way or another, the choice is ours in the small, simple steps we take … every day.

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Michal Rinkevich is a coach, teacher, and wellness practitioner at her centre for health, education and self-fulfillment in California. She walked the Camino Francés in June 2011, and will start out on the Via de la Plata this spring.

This post is originally from her Camino blog, where you can find more of her thoughts of life and the Camino.

If you have a pilgrimage story you’d like to share, check out the Pilgrim Roads submissions page.