My father instilled in his children this maxim: do what you love. If you do, you'll be good at it and it won't seem like work. If you're good at it, you'll make money.

I kind of fell into what I ended up doing. I started out studying Medicine. But I was spending so much time writing and photographing freelance articles for magazines that my studies suffered, and I switched across to journalism.

I mention this today because I am driving 8 hours to see a movie.

That's how much I love what I do.

There's no cinema in Mudgee. And whilst there are cinemas in towns about an hour and a half away, I want to see this particular film on the huge IMAX screen, in 3D. So I've driven to Sydney – eight hours there and back.

The film is GRAVITY, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It's directed by a very exciting director – Alfonso Cuaron. He made a film that I thought was spectacular – CHILDREN OF MEN.

I read the script of GRAVITY several years ago, before it was cast, and off the page it read as an amazing movie. Today it opens worldwide, day and date. I'm excited!

In ten days I spend a week addressing students at the University where I'm an Adjunct Professor. They are soon to graduate with a degree in Fine Arts, Film & Television. And I will tell them: do what you love.

Be Still, My Heart.

I am a contemplative nun. That means the primary focus of my life, every day, is prayer and meditation. I believe deeply in the power of prayer – I’ve  seen so many blessed, mysterious and miraculous things happen as a result of prayer that I would be a fool to feel otherwise!

When I am not praying for the world and the people living in it, my directive is to live prayerfully. To live loving, as much as I am able, as Jesus did, and as He tried to teach us to do. Part of that loving manifests in spiritual counselling and teaching others how to find God within and all around themselves. There is nothing in this life that I would rather do, and I count myself blessed to be able to live the life I want and need to lead.

Most contemplatives live under a vow of silence in their own convents and monasteries. Some live alone in private, rural settings that are conducive to contemplation. That’s what I had been doing until my son became a quadraplegic and I was given dispensation to have him come and live with me. So a lot of my time now is taken up with the 24/7 care a paralysed person needs.

You can do anything, or live any kind of life, prayerfully, and having him at home hasn’t  diminished my life in any way – in fact, I am indescribably richer for it.

But this week I’m  trying to get ready to go on Retreat. It’s enough of a job making sure ministry committments are provided for. Many of us have also written and prepared lectures. Now I also have to make arrangements for my son’s care while I’m  gone, and it has to be done with delicacy to preserve his dignity, boost his confidence and help him to find pride in just how much he can do for himself. An emergency nurse who understands that can be hard to find.

It’s not going well. I keep running into obstacles and out of time! I feel extremely stressed, and to frost  the cake, I am moving onto my third night of painful insomnia. Instead of feeling filled with joy and expectation about my Retreat, I am bad tempered, overtired,  snappy, unpleasant,  angry at times, and a little resentful. This all makes me feel even worse!

Some of you may remember my mentioning a very special, sensitive friend of mine who has a gift for asking probing and revealing questions. Recently she asked, “Sister, what is in your heart today?” It stopped me cold because of course I saw that the one and only thing in my heart at that moment, was ME.

Which is why everything was going so badly. I was so intent on doing things right that I forgot to do them lovingly, and prayerfully. I forgot to live from my heart and my spirit and my faith. I forgot to listen for the Holy Spirit and my “PGS”. Thank God that we have the option to go on a Camino or to a Retreat, and find our centre again.Thank God for the blessing of sensitive friends!

How is your week going?  What’s  in your heart, today?

This is a reprint of a story that first appeared in London’s Telegraph newspaper. It puts a face and a voice to the crippling state of Spain’s unemployment problem –

Next time you walk through a village or town, give some thought to the situation – and how the Camino is at least providing some revenue to the places you visit…

A young Spaniard with three degrees has become the face of the country’s ‘‘lost generation’’ after an online rant in which he complained that the only work he could find was cleaning lavatories in London.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/three-degrees-yet-i-clean-a-lavatory-the-tale-of-spains-lost-generation-20131002-2urqo.html#ixzz2gbkBlSaY

Jennifer was cooking dinner again tonight.

She went outside to get some fresh herbs, and the saucepan she was cooking with caught fire.

I regard this as the Universe paying her back for yelling at me last night.

In John Lennon's words…

Instant Karma!

There is currently a thread on Ivar’s forum on Best Books on the Camino.

Now, me being such a humble self effacing bloke can’t really get on there and thump my own drum…

But, I’m sure you’ll agree that my book is brilliant and groundbreaking, and will no doubt feature prominently in next year’s Pulitzers… and given that I’m from a British colony the Booker Prize is surely not out of the question.

(I think the Nobel Prize is a bit lofty at this stage, but Nobel Prize winning books are really boring anyway…)

Anyway, it would be inordinately crass of me to self publicise on Ivar’s forum about what a great book The Way, My Way is. But, you my PGS family could….

Please…..

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/best-camino-books-nonguide-books-in-english.4852/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PilgrimageToSantiagoDeCompostela+%28Camino+de+Santiago+de+Compostela%29

Susan has been tirelessly working at kitting out Sister Clare for the Portuguese Camino Tour next April. She’s just posted an update on the forum – here is what’s left:

http://pgsthewayforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=135&p=899#p899

There are some extraordinarily generous people out there, and Sister, you should know that you are loved and admired… You have a special gift coming to you for this tour too, which Susan has coordinated. A gift from a very generous and kind man.

Susan, you are a marvellous person. Thank you.

Bill

Everyone who reads this blog knows that I love my wife very much. And that I would do nothing to hurt her. Or even rile her. And that I regard her as a highly evolved spiritual being.

Well, all that went out the window last night, literally.

She was cooking fennel. Grilling it. For a fennel and avocado salad we were going to have for dinner. The fennel looked like it was singeing – burning. So I suggested I put some olive oil in.

She said no, it didn’t need olive oil.

I watched the fennel get more and more singed. So while she was preparing the avocado, I got the oil can and put some oil in.

Smoke went everywhere, and I thought the pan was going to burst into flames.

Jennifer went ballistic.

She screamed and yelled at me.

I laughed, and told her she should go meditate.

And I marvelled at how years and years of spiritual practice can so easily be put aside in a moment of genuine anger and frustration.

I acknowledge, I can be difficult to live with at times…

I got a sudden pang of regret last night.

I was reading Arlene’s blog, and something made me think of a section of the Meseta where I passed the San Bol albergue.

I’d read about this place, how wonderful it was, but I’d come from Hornillos del Camino that afternoon and the place was jammed full – no beds – and I was sure that San Bol would be full too.

So I walked past it.

I walked through to Hontanas and holed up there for the night. But I found out later that San Bol was only partly full, and those that had spent the night there had raved about their experience. They said it was one of the highlights of their Camino.

For some reason last night I thought back on that, and I remembered the moment I decided not to check it out.

To get to the San Bol albergue you have to walk down a track off the Camino – about 400m or so – and I didn’t want to walk that distance. That’s an extra 800m, there and back, to find out the place was full. By that stage I’d already walked about 28kms, and I had a long way to go to get to Hontanas.

However my PGS was telling me I should go check it out – yet my willforce overruled it. I was hot, tired, and I didn’t want to add nearly 1km to my day’s walk to find out the inevitable – that they were COMPLETO.

I should have listened to my PGS.

But it made me wonder what other quintessential Camino moments I missed. And it’s one thing I would do differently, should I walk the Camino Frances again – or indeed any Camino. I would put in that extra bit of effort and explore all possibilities.

I’m now curious – have any of you missed any quintessential Camino moments, for whatever reason?

I got this terrific response on my book from James Hockstaff.

James, thank you!

Wow! what a great story. Profound, practical, deeply moving… And funny. Self deprecation at its best. A mirror. Very grateful for the wisdom and insight.  Nice job dude. With gratitude.

I watched a documentary on Woody Allen last night.

He was honest and disarming and open.

The documentary showed him in his young years, as a stand up comedian in The Village, and then it followed his career.

His preoccupations, his themes, his unique humour was evident at a very early age. And it struck me that even in the films that Woody Allen doesn't star in, it's very apparent that you're watching a Woody Allen movie.

This to me is the definition of an artist – having a unique and distinctive voice.

You look at a Picasso painting, you know it's Picasso. Monet is Monet. Eric Clapton is distinctly Clapton. Neil Young, Van Morrison, BB King too.

Stephen King writing Carrie, his first book, writes with the same voice even now. Dickens is distinctly Dickens. Scorsese has kept his style from Mean Streets and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. If you know his work, you know when you're looking at a Frank Lloyd Wright house or building.

There are all sorts of pressures stopping someone being an artist – maintaining an original voice. Financial pressures, pressure from critics and public opinion, confusion as to what's your path in life.

That's where PGS kicks in.

If you listen to it, it keeps you on your unique path.