Necessities

While walking the Camino one falls into a rhythm: wake up early, dress, walk, stop in nearest town for breakfast, walk, stop in a town for lunch, walk, reach day's destination, find hotel, wash clothes, eat, sleep.  Pretty much the entire day is consumed with the basics: eat, walk, sleep. There really isn't anything more important than a good nights sleep, hot shower, dry clothes, food & healthy body/feet. A bonus is  the pleasure of companionship along the way. Is there really ever anything more important than these things?

Maslow and his famous hierarchy of human needs suggested that the physical needs must always be met before we can begin to contemplate ascending to higher levels of self actualization. On a more practical level, one of Napoleon's military maxims was that a soldier must never be without his knapsack and that this should be reduced to the smallest possible size. Good advice for pilgrims as well! It turns out that one doesn't really need very much, although as mentioned in an earlier post, style must be sacrificed for comfort.

Many have told me that the Camino us addictive and perhaps one of the reasons for this is the opportunity to shed the superfluous worries such as mortgage payments, bills, home repair, shopping, newspaper headlines, entertaining and so on that fill so much of our time.  I hope that you are all able to take some time today to look outside, take a deep breath and enjoy!

Pictures are of ruins of a pilgrims hospital, a hermito (hermit's dwelling) outside Villafranca, and an ancient cross by the side of the road in Redecilla Del Camino.