I ran across a quote on Facebook this week that nicely frames my pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James). Many people (me included) describe walking the Camino as a life-changing experience. But on second thought, I agree with Emily McDowell who shares it’s actually an excavation:

“Finding yourself is not really how it works. You aren’t a ten-dollar bill in last winter’s coat pocket. You are also not lost. Your true self is right there buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a kid that became your beliefs about who you are. Finding yourself is actually returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you.”  — Emily McDowell

I hope you can spend some time this week reflecting on that and doing a little excavation, some unlearning and wonderful remembering of the gift that you are to this world.