Walk in a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino

t age 60 Joyce Rupp didn't know what she was getting into when she began a 47-day pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the road made famous by the movie "The Way". Joined by her walking friend Tom, a retired pastor, Joyce learned lessons that can help all of us travel on life's up-and-down journey with more grace and lightness. She shares them in this enjoyable recounting of her journey across mountains and valleys, cities and farms.

The twenty-five life lessons include:

Set Out with Hope and Enthusiasm
Travel Lightly
Acknowledge the Kindness of Strangers
Let Yourself Be Humbled by Weakness
Savor Solitude
Return a Positive for a Negative
Look for Unannounced Angels
Trust in the Divine Companion

A nice collections of lessons from walking the camino in the early 2000s. Some things have changed: I think lodging is generally cleaner, the food is generally better, and maybe things are just the same. Virtually everything she shares about interacting with people, and lessons she learned resonated with me. For someone who has walked the Camino I think you will find this book with trigger many memories. For someone who is planning to walk the Camino, the book gives a preview of what you will experience, but it's shadow of the actual experience. Rupp reports the small acts which touched her... many of which didn't move my heart. I am sure many of my stories wouldn't seem significant to anyone but me. The beauty is that the Camino show more provides what each of us needs. I think the book would have been better uf Rupp had included more details about some of her encounters with people. show less

I've been interested in reading accounts of people who have walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Although this is one of the best in conveying the details of what such a pilgrimage might look like on the ground, the structure of the book make it less interesting than it could have been. This is a book that will give you a very good idea of what to expect on the Camino, but not much in the way of motivation to make the pilgrimage yourself.

Worth re-reading before making the pilgrimage, but can be easily found or borrowed, does not need to occupy permanent shelf space - especially considering the author's insights about lightening one's life load at home and not only on the Camino.

Here's what I wrote in 2019 about this read: "A spiritual journey of a nun and priest, deep friends and partners in faith, for 6 weeks along the Camino de Santiago." The first quotation was found online; the other quotations in the comments section are my exact (15) Kindle highlights.