Just say yes

I hate it when I have to take my own advice, but sometimes it happens.

It happened today. I was starting to notice that my grumpiness over various pains was again crowding out my gratitude for the chance to walk the Camino.

I then remembered my vow to try to say yes to everything that happens on this journey. That goes for pain and discomfort too. After all, nobody goes on a 500-600 mile walk to experience pleasant sensations 24/7.

There’s an ancient Buddhist practice called vipassana, which is to simply observe what’s going on with one’s body and mind without reacting to it. I tried that today and it worked pretty well. At least as well as snarling at it.

I also drew on two things I read in the past. On was Albert Camus’ essay The Myth of Sisyphus, about the person who was punished by Zeus to eternally push a rock up a hill only to have it roll down again.

Camus imagines that Sisyphus accepts it: “His rock is his thing... One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” I decided to follow his example and try to make whatever comes my thing.

The other story is about the Tibetan Buddhist poet Milarepa. It’s said that he once settled in a cave for an extended period. It was full of demons. First, he tried to exorcise them. That didn’t work. Then he tried to preach the dharma to them. That didn’t work either.

He finally stopped fighting them, saying something like “Okay guys. You can knock yours out doing the demon thing, but I’m gonna be here doing mine.”

Eventually they worked things out. I’m hoping to do something similar with my demons.