Birthday in Madrid (Part 1)

Well today's my birthday. I'm 56 years young. It's 5.30am Madrid time and I'm in a plane, in the sky somewhere over the USSR. Its five more hours before we land in Madrid, Spain.

Our windows isle seat plan is working well as again we scored all three seats. This is great for Mo as she can sleep across two seats.

Today marks another anniversary for me, one year without Alcohol.
I thought this would be a big thing, but actually it's a bit of a non event. When I first stopped drinking I was counting days. I was noticing alcohol every where. It seemed like there was a bottleshop on every corner. Every movie or show I watched, I noticed people were drinking. Its amazing how much its ingrained into the Australian culture and seemed to be so much a part of my life. It left a definite void. One of the things I had to cope with was all this extra time that I previously spent drinking!, and of course lots of extra energy due to my sleeping patterns improving and losing the beer belly. I was also initially tracking how much money I have saved each day as a motivation not to drink (probably at least 5K to date as Mo is also not drinking). Initially, I felt that I had to justify myself for not wanting to drink "no I'm not on medication" etc , I just decided I didn't need alcohol to enjoy life to the full. Im not wanting to limit other peoples choices, I did have to learn to be careful though, how I declined drinks, as it could trigger some people or make them feel uncomfortable to drink themselves. I have noticed though, it's become much less of an issue, maybe it's because people are used to me not drinking now or maybe it's just me part of me letting go is become such a non issue.😊
I attended an online webinar a couple of weeks ago, and one of the messages was. Every day our purpose in life is to evolve just a little bit more. (thank you Alistair ) this message resonated well with me, As It's in line with my biocentric outlook that every day we can express our potential to move more towards life.
My 40 year relationship with alcohol was not helping me to evolve or live my life to the full, it was incongruent with all the other changes I was making in my life, and not helping me be the best person I could be, so it was time for us to part company.
When I return from Spain in November I'm going to focus more on my E-Hypnothrapy practice. I will be offering to help people who also want to let go of habits that they feel may not be serving them and teach them how to reprogram their minds so that new choices like this can be made easier, and without having to resort to will power. As I have a very nomadic life, I'm excited to now be certified as one of the first Australian E-hypnotherapists, so I can now help people via the internet in the comfort and safety of their homes anywhere in the world. If you would like to know more email me at Mark@mindfreeway.com. 😊

Another thing I like to do each day is to do something a little scary. Something that will push me out of my "CZ" comfort zone (you know that place where your dreams go to die), and into my "GZ" Growth Zone.
That's one of the reasons Mo and I have embarked on our current adventure to walk the Camino De Santiago. We will walk the Camino Francés which is about 815km if you include the scenic detour s to the monasteries at San Millan and Samos and a further 100k to Finistarre.

We will start the walking from St Jean Pied De Port in France on Sunday 18th August (our first night in a pilgrim's hostel Is Saturday night in SJPD) and my intention is to walk all the way to Santiago and then hopefully on to Finistarre. We don't have a time frame and plan to take it slowly we don't fly back to Australia until 25th October but we want to spend a few days in Madrid before we leave Spain so we can dance some Biodanza with an amazing lady that teaches in Madrid.

This camino walk has been on my "Life List" for several years, since first being inspired by the movie "The way." I really don't know exactly what to expect or what I will get from this experience. I'm just trusting that the Camino will give me whatever it is that I need right now. I feel it has been calling me to make this pilgrimage and I'm very excited and looking forward to walking each day with everything I need on my back and if Im not carrying it to trust that it will be provided.
I suspect I have packed too much as everyone does and that after carrying my pack over the Pyrenees some things may soon be gifted to other Pilgrims. I may regret my decision to bring a little sports camera (YI 4K+) whilst the camera itself is light the batteries backpack mount and other accessories do add up. I'm also bringing a small sleeping bag, Mo has decided to leave hers behind and trust the camino to provide blankets if it's cold. We will see 😊

Some of my intentions for this walk are.

1. To live in the moment. (I'm quite good at this as I do live very much in the now but I want to take this to the next level. I Do tend to worry about what ifs I think this comes from 15 years as a project manager doing risk assessments and mitigation plans 😁. So I just want to go with the flow and trust it will all work out just as it should. I don't want to plan too much, we have booked our first two nights accommodation. but after our first night in Spain we hope to just walk and trust we will find a bed each night.

2. More Connection!

A) To Connect more with myself,I want to clarify the things that are most important to me so I can priotise my time better when I return. And hopefully better understand my purpose for this lifetime.

B) Connect with others. I will have lots of quality time with Mo and hopefully I'll meet some interesting people and share their stories and maybe their journey with them for a short while too. My aim is to be as present with them all (and practice my Spanish 😊)

3) Conection with God. I'm not even sure what that means to me. I do believe there is a purpose to life, a reason to evolve. And some higher intelligence or some kind of design to life. I can't except that everything happens just by chance. I would like to develop a deeper relationship with my spiritual part. That part that is life, source, spirit, or God. For me it's as much a spiritual pilgrimage as a physical one.

To assist with these intentions, I aim to greatly limit my exposure to social media.
I'm finding Facebook has been becoming much to consuming of my time.
And I have been learning a lot about device addiction and I want to nip mine in the bud before it gets to out of hand. I have been guilty of filling the void of extra time available from quitting Drinking with browsing Facebook and other online sites.

For me Facebook has become less about connecting with Families and friends and like minded people and more about marketing and businesses opportunities. Many of my like minded friends are also coming to the same conclusion that the amount of censorship and social engeneering that is happening on FB makes it an increasingly unhealthy environment to spend too much time.

Is such, whilst walking my Camino I'm going to do my best to avoid Facebook as much as possible.

As I have many family and friends that have expressed a desire for me to share some of my Camino Journey, I have decided to use "FindingPenguins.Com", to track my path and share my "Footsteps"

I'm not sure I'll post to finding penguins every day, I may even try a paper journal whatever feels right. But if I do post, I'll make my posts public so your welcome to follow me if you wish and be notified by email when I post. I can also attach upto 10 photos or short videos to each Footstep post 😊

I may also share some of my footsteps to Facebook or other platforms I'm exploring from time to time from within the Finding Penguins App. But I will probably not be logged in directly or checking my Facebook feed or messenger.
I will have all notifications disabled.
The best way to contact me will be email.

I have also just switched on tracking in the finding penguin app so it should plot my path and location even when I'm not connected to the internet and it will upload my location and footsteps (posts) when I do have internet Conection..

OK we'll enough for now.
I'll let you know how I get on in Madrid today.
We may have further excitement like yesterday as apparently there is a transport strike waiting for us in Madrid 😳.
But in the wise words of my young granddaughter Eva. "You get what you get, and you don't get upset" seems like great advice and one I'm sure I'll have cause to remember in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow we take a train to Pamplona....

with love
Mark ❤️Read more