The first weekend of May I traveled to Pismo Beach, California to take part in The Meet & Greet with Martha Beck for the September 2012 and January 2013 Life Coach Training Cohorts. This was a powerful and transformative event for me. I am recounting my experience in four parts. Part 1 described the effect the setting had on me. This is Part 2—about “My Peeps.”
On The Trail
I’m going to start back a ways, because I think it can help, to see the journey of transformation. These important journeys, that we all experience, take place in more than just the physical realm, going from Point A to Point B. Our transformations occur over time, and within our hearts, and among the world that surrounds us. Change, like fluid in motion, is ever-occurring.
Almost twenty years ago I embarked on a journey with my best friend, to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. While an accounting of the hike could obviously highlight the miles covered, I suspected (and desperately hoped) that there would also be a mindful and spiritual shift in my life, as well. It’s perhaps an odd-sounding idea, but I really went walking to find the me I most truly wanted to be. My friend completed the 2,100-plus mile journey from Maine to Georgia, but my hike ended early, after two months and just shy of 500 miles. In many ways, I discovered that the number of miles I traveled was the least important indicator of how I had changed; I also started to see that my mind/spirit journey would a journey of a lifetime.
The Tribe
In Pismo Beach, the fellow cadets I met shared a common light and energy that encouraged and embraced me. For each of us, I think, there is a singularly unique story. Even so, there is also a shared vision of hope and potential, of something greater than just ourselves; wonderfully inclusive, yet splendidly dependent upon each of us showing up and taking part. I felt a fullness—welcomed, accepted, loved, and appreciated. The combined energy of all was uplifting and joyful.
Martha has a name for this feeling of connection and shared energy and purpose. She talks of meeting someone for the first time and feeling connection almost immediately, as the recognition of a fellow member of “The Tribe.” The connection and energy I felt from this collection of women, and the comfort and ease with which I felt a part, was strong and palpable, and like nothing I have ever experienced to that degree before.
Coming Home
Although my A.T. hike was nearly twenty years ago, it is still one of the major experiences in my life. I clearly recall the time when, during a mid-day rest, I had a most realistic daydream. I saw myself walking on a dirt road that ran through rolling land filled with tall wheat waving in the wind. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I had a light daypack over my shoulders, and my stride was light and happy. This was in great contrast to the full backpack, rainy weather, and Northeast mountain forests that I was actually experiencing.
As I crested a hill in my daydream, I saw that in the next swale there was a partially open gate across the dirt road I was traveling. Leaning on the gate, watching me, was a lady, chewing on a strand of wheat. She welcomed me and told me that everyone was already here, and they were all excited, waiting for and expecting me. I’ve remembered that feeling and have thought of it often.
For quite a while, now, I’ve come to know that feeling as coming home. That’s the feeling I had, meeting “The Tribe” in Pismo Beach.
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