Camino 2017-9-29 Throwing Some Attitude

Sometime by midday, I felt like I was losing it today. By "it", I mean the Camino. The walk was very confusing for some reason.

The day was mostly cloudy, so the heat wasn't bad. Yet somehow i drank more water than normal and needed to refill my 2-liter bottle sooner. Granted, I told myself to not be stingy with my sips to avoid dehydration, but it still seemed like a significant increase in water consumption.

The day was 33km on paper to go from barcelos to Ponte Lima. And somehow I got lost a few times so that I ended up walking 35km. Of course the mentally frustrating part of the extra two km was that I invariably get lost by needlessly going uphill.

And I started to wonder about the length of time it was taking me. I'm deliberately changing my walking stride so that I'm not plagued with blisters like I get when I Camino alone. Alone, I tend to walk very quickly and, well, trudge or waddle. I think this contributes to blisters. So I'm walking slower and with a more forward gait. It just seems to slow me down a lot.

But hey, so far no blisters!

Today's walk was very agricultural and woodsy. Once out of Baceros, you end up on trails pretty quickly. This is a welcome change, as my feet feel pummeled by the higher percentage of road and cobblestone walking in Portugal. I didn't realize how comfortable the decomposed granite and dirt roads of Spanish sendas were on the body.

And though I'm eating well in my mind, I did take the belt in a notch today. So I'm losing weight which is normal. Thankfully I'm not losing it at an unhealthy rate like my first Camino. There's losing weight and there's inadequate eating for the walking needs.  

Towards the end of the day I noticed my attitude shifting. Not sure what caused it. Perhaps exhaustion?

I found that I'm still walking in the midst of gratitude. Gratitude for life, for those who make my life meaningful, and even for those who test me in my life. For the sheep, the chickens, the endless grape vines. With these various things I was losing today, there were always good things happening too. So I was grateful that good can come from the confusing.

I forget to allow that attitude going. And I forget that others have much to be grateful for themselves.

So I realized we shouldn't just HAVE an attitude of gratitude. We should BE the attitude of gratitude, so that it's part of us, like a reflex. We should be embracing gratitude so thoroughly that we can't put it down. That's a blessing. That's an atonement for tonight's Yom Kipput in itself. Be the attitude of gratitude and be blessed with God's grace.

Be the blessing. Be the attitude of gratitude... the beatitude of gratitude.