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.

I’ve just received another 5 star review on Amazon – from Peter Fanning, who is a regular on this blog.

Thank you Peter – very much appreciated. This will help get the film out to a wider audience.

For those of you who have read the book but haven’t yet posted a review, here’s a link to make it easier!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-My-ebook/dp/B00FB313KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380414249&sr=8-1&keywords=the+way+my+way+bill+bennett

Tomorrow, or today (whichever time zone you’re in!) is the last chance to get my book free.

If you want a copy, then please email me on – billpgsblog@gmail.com

Again, all I ask is that you respect my Intellectual Property Rights – and if you like the book, please write a review on Amazon, Smashwords, and Goodreads.

For those of you who’ve read the book – I’d really appreciate your posting a review. So far I only have reviews from Pat (Wayfarer) and Libby Pashley – and both have been very glowing! (Thank you guys!!)

Reviews help with search algorithms, and enable the book to reach a wider audience. If I’m able to get some really good five star reviews, then it will be enormously helpful.

Thanks!

Jennifer and I have a saying… we talk about “letting go the rope.”

This concept came to Jennifer in one moment of insight while she was driving – it was a very clear vision, of her in a playground with a see-saw, and a couple playing a game of tug-of-war.

Immediately it struck her that the game of tug-of-war was like what she was going through at the time, with some issues that had been troubling her.

This is the concept: you’re at one end of the rope. There’s something at the other end of the rope – it can be a person, a circumstance, an addiction, an event, an ongoing issue in your life. It can be anything that’s creating disharmony. Something, or someone you’re struggling with. That’s wanting to pull you in a particular direction.

It could be one of your children, a work colleague, a neighbour, your partner – or it could be an illness, a financial concern, an unpleasant decision that has to be made… whatever it is, it’s a struggle in your life. It’s a tug-of-war with whatever it is you’re struggling with.

What struck Jennifer at that moment, when she had the vision of the playground, is that if you’re pulling and pulling and pulling, and the other side is pulling and pulling and pulling, and it’s a huge struggle, creating all sorts of discord and disharmony, and then suddenly you decide that you’re not going to play this game anymore, and you let go your end of the rope, then the other side falls in a heap.

You walk away and the struggle is over.

But, the other end of the rope – whatever that is – will be angry, Furious. It will want you to play again. It will do all in its power to make you want to continue the game – the struggle.

You might have got used to this game. You might have, on some level, actually enjoyed the struggle. Enjoyed the energy that it infused within you. Same with the other side – they too might have so enjoyed the game. They will entice you to play again.

So you have to be very determined not to pick up that rope again. But sometimes you do, and then you have to be very disciplined to let it go again. Walk away.

Sometimes it’s handy to have a simple way of looking at complex emotions or issues. Using this tug-of-war concept makes It really simple – you can let go. From an energetic point of view, you’re releasing that energy from your life.

What you’re saying to yourself is I’m not going to engage in the way I’ve always engaged – I’m going to let you “win” this. But in fact although it appears you’re letting the other side win, you’re not. There’s no winning and no losing, you’re just put putting an end to a game you no longer wish to play.

I mention this because two things have come up that have made me think about it – one is a struggle a dear friend of mine is having with his son. His son is exceedingly bright, and has an opportunity to go to Med School. But the young lad wants to live a little – do some traveling, and take at least a year off.

My friend has had some big blues with him, telling him that if he takes a year off, the offer to go to Med School may not be there when he returns. He’s switching courses – and so it is at this stage a one-off offer.

The more my friend tries to argue with his son, the more his son backs away, and affirms his desire to take a year off.

I told my friend to let go the rope, and see what happens. It could be that his son is enjoying the game, of exerting power over his father. But if that power is taken away from him, and he’s left having to make a major life decision on his own, what will he do?

The second example is something which I believe shows clearly how this can work.

I follow a blog by a well known independent film producer, Ted Hope. In a recent guest post, a filmmaker detailed the struggle he’d been going through to get a film up.

He’d made two critically acclaimed films which had made no money. He’d done the rounds of Hollywood, and everyone had blown smoke up his butt like they do in Hollywood, but no-one would give him a job. He spent many years getting more and more frustrated and angry.

And then one day he just “snapped,” in his words, and he packed up and left Hollywood. He drove up the coast to San Francisco, vowing he would give up making films and try and find a regular job.

He found a shared apartment, and was introduced to various people who had nothing to do with the film industry. “Real” people. And he began to see clearly what was happening in the world outside the insular bubble of Hollywood.

He started to realise that there was a growing gap in the US economy that was having a major impact on the middle class, and so he decided to make a documentary about it. But who wants to see a documentary about the American middle class struggling in a flat economy? And who would finance such a film?

Cut to: the filmmaker has made his film, and it’s getting a major theatrical release around the country. To get a theatrical release for a film at the moment is really difficult – to get a theatrical release for a documentary is unheard of. The guy has smashed it out of the park.

What happened? He let go the rope. As soon as he said I don’t want to play this game anymore, things started happening for him.

If you’re interested, here are links to his story. For me though, it’s a classic instance of letting go the rope, walking away from the struggle, and winning.

PART 1:
http://hopeforfilm.com/?p=10344

PART 2:
http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/2013/09/how-i-gave-up-on-the-film-industry-and-did-what-i-loved-part-2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TrulyFreeFilm+%28Truly+Free+Film%29

I posted a couple of days ago that I was in a dilemma over a business decision I had to make. And Jennifer suggested that I ask for a sign.

Well, I think I got it. I happened to be scrolling through some old photographs and I came upon a shot I took of my youngest sister, on her first day of school. There’s 15 years between us, and I was 21 when she had her first day at school.

The decision I had to make concerned a project I’ve had in development for several years with the tertiary institution where I’m an Adjunct Professor. It’s an online course to teach students how to make movies.

I’ve been frustrated though in how long everything has taken. I had no idea academic institutions were so dysfunctional when it came to making decisions. In the world of independent filmmaking, you’ve got to make decisions fast, otherwise you miss out on opportunities.

The agreement took four months to get signed. And I was on the verge of bailing out of the whole thing, because I wondered whether I could work within an organisation that was so moribund with “due process.”

But then I saw the photo, and it reminded me how important education is. And how I have to give back. I have a lot of experience, and within this online course I can pass that on to future filmmakers. And so I decided to go with it.

Would I have done so, had I not seen that photo?

I’m not sure…

I won’t post the photo until I’ve got the permission of my sister to do so. I actually captured a moment where she was swinging her school bag, but she was wearing a short school dress and her knickers were showing… I reprinted this just recently and gave it to her for her birthday. She told me I should be locked up… : )