Caminante, no hay camino / Se hace camino al andar -
Traveller, there is no way. You make the way by walking.
These lines by Spanish poet Antonio Machado have long been a touchstone for me. This week, I've been living in the way that's blocked and in the way that opens when you walk it. This first week on my own, I've been aware of my limitations, especially limitations of language, of culture, of understanding. I've touched into fear - not the rational fears about crime or illness, but childhood fears of being shamed, of being inadequate. And I've found that the only way is to keep walking...to walk through the fear. It comes and it goes. And it goes more quickly if I don't pay too much attention to it, don't feed it, if I keep walking. Se hace camino al andar. Just as long as I keep watching where I put my feet, and try not to fall down any more staircases!
Dear Susan this is beautiful. And it reminds me of what my grandmother use to tell me when we both were working at my dad's drugstore in smalltown Ellensburg. It was back in the day, and we had to wear white nurse-like dresses, shoes and white pantyhose. White pantyhose highlight runs in nylons like a bright light. Whenever I would get a run my grandmother would tell me "just walk a little faster, no one will notice" and so I do.
ReplyDelete