Welcome to another personal and introspective episode of the Full Frontal Living Podcast with Lisa Carpenter. In episode 272, Lisa shares her experiences and revelations from the first day of her journey walking the Camino de Santiago. Join her as she traverses the scenic routes of Spain, engaging in a voyage not just across landscapes but deep into the realms of personal expectations and relationships.
The Journey Begins: Lisa discusses her impromptu decision to walk the Camino and her first day walking a 22 km stretch. She introduces us to the diverse motivations that draw people to this renowned pilgrimage.
Saying Yes to Life: Discover why Lisa chose this year to embrace adventure and travel, breaking from years of postponement and saying yes to new experiences.
No Expectations, Just Experiences: Learn about Lisa’s approach of traveling without expectations, relying on her friends who love to plan, and enjoying the journey as it unfolds.
Reflections and Relationships: Lisa shares how the Camino is helping her connect on a deeper level with friends and clients, providing a space where she can both lead and be nurtured.
A Challenge to Listeners: The core message of the episode challenges the stories we tell ourselves and the expectations we place on others and experiences. Lisa invites listeners to examine how their interpretations affect their lives and relationships, suggesting a shift towards acceptance and personal accountability.
The Bigger Picture: Wrapping up, Lisa reflects on the essence of spiritual and personal growth, reminding us that meaningful change and connection can happen daily, not just on extraordinary adventures.
Whether you’re seeking a moment of tranquility or a spark of motivation, join Lisa on this picturesque and profound journey. Dive deeper into understanding how acceptance and intentional living can transform everyday life. And remember, “You don’t have to fly to Spain to find yourself.“
Listen and Subscribe:
Catch this and future episodes on your favorite podcast platform to continue exploring how full frontal living can lead to greater awareness and fulfillment. Check out the video version of this walk on YouTube for the full visual experience!
Grab Lisa’s free guide to protecting your energy when life is life-ing here: www.lisacarpenter.ca/protect
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;01;22 - 00;00;27;13
Lisa
Welcome to the Full Frontal Living podcast. I'm Lisa Carpenter, master life coach to driven, ambitious humans who want more out of life without having to sacrifice themselves to achieve it. I'll share how it's possible to slow down. Take better care of yourself. Find more peace and ease. Create sustainable energy. Stop procrastination and overwhelm and fall in love with your life, your business and your body.
00;00;27;16 - 00;00;47;00
Lisa
This podcast is for you if you're ready to learn what it takes to thrive as a high performer, do less, but achieve more. Make you and your well-being a top priority, and create your extraordinary life. I'm so glad you're here.
00;00;47;03 - 00;01;14;22
Lisa
Well, hey, hey, welcome to another episode of the Footprints of Living podcast. And I'm doing something I have never done before, which is Walk the Camino. And, I'm also recording this video, and I'm recording this podcast. Well, and actually finishing out my first day of walking, which was during 22km in total. And the Camino. You can go ahead and Google.
00;01;14;22 - 00;01;41;08
Lisa
It is a walk that starts. I mean, if you did the full walk, I think it's six weeks and you start up in France and you walk all the way to, Santiago, which is in Spain. So we are just walking the last leg of it, which covers about 100km. And, we finished in Santiago. We started in a place called Sarria.
00;01;41;10 - 00;02;02;25
Lisa
And people come here to do this walk for a whole variety of reasons. A lot of people come here for spiritual expansion, find themselves, you know, maybe they've gone through things. And to be honest, I didn't really know what I was signing up for. A lot of people trained for this to make sure that they're in good enough physical condition to do it.
00;02;02;27 - 00;02;29;06
Lisa
I did not, because I just assumed I was in good enough physical condition, which I am. But the reason that I really decided to come to the Camino was this year was a year of saying yes to myself and saying yes to experiences and saying yes to travel and adventure, something I've been putting off for years and years and years for a variety of reasons, which I've talked about on previous episodes.
00;02;29;09 - 00;03;03;24
Lisa
So anyways, here I am on the Camino. So if you want to see the view as I walk and talk, you can just, watch this over on YouTube. I'll get my team to post it on on YouTube so you can walk alone. You can walk with partners. I am here with some of my clients, current and previous clients and also, you know, my best friend who lives in New York and really just enjoying time with them.
00;03;03;26 - 00;03;22;25
Lisa
And I really didn't come with any intention. Like I said, I had no idea what I was signing up for. I didn't research the Camino, and in fact, one of the things I love to do as a traveler is to connect with people who love to plan. And I'm the friend that just shows up and brings the vibes, so to speak.
00;03;22;27 - 00;03;43;08
Lisa
And I don't feel bad about it because I never worry about missing out on anything because I don't come with expectations. So I really just get to enjoy the journey. And I trust the ones that plan and love to plan. You know, we're going to see cool stuff. So anyways, I've had some time alone and I've had some time to connect.
00;03;43;08 - 00;04;10;00
Lisa
And as I've been walking and thinking about what I wanted to get out of today's walk because I love setting an intention for each day, I just thought today was about reflecting and releasing, which in part it has been. But what also has come up for me during today is how much this trip for me isn't necessarily about connecting with new people, although I am.
00;04;10;02 - 00;04;40;13
Lisa
It's really about allowing myself to be nurtured and supported and connecting deeper with people I already have relationships with, which feels so nourishing for me. Because when I'm in my leadership role, which I am as a coach and I have, you know, a certain amount of authority with my clients, it's really beautiful to be here with these ladies and just be all of me so I can be Coach Lisa.
00;04;40;15 - 00;05;07;07
Lisa
But I also just get to be Lisa and allowing them to also be in a supportive role for me, because they all know kind of the things that I've been going through over the past year, because I'm very open and honest with my clients about it. But on this episode, one of the things I wanted to talk about was the stories that we tell ourselves and the interpretations that we make.
00;05;07;10 - 00;05;43;11
Lisa
And I think many people come to the Camino with this set of expectations about what they want to get out of it. And that may or may not be true, but most things in life that we have expectations about, chances are things aren't going to meet your expectations. And this is also true in relationships. How often do we put expectations on other people to be a certain way, so that we can feel a certain way, instead of letting people be where they're at?
00;05;43;13 - 00;05;48;23
Lisa
And I recently had somebody asked me.
00;05;48;25 - 00;06;10;25
Lisa
They've got some stuff going on in their life, but they asked me, you know, what do you think my role is in this? I never really sat with that question, because it's not really a question that I can answer. We all get to look at, what our role is in the way things play out with our lives.
00;06;10;25 - 00;06;34;09
Lisa
But what I was really thinking about is sometimes the role that we play in dynamics, playing out in certain relationships, is the expectations that we put on those relationships to be a certain way, based on our frame of reality. So what you think a friendship needs to be like, what you think a good friendship needs to be like?
00;06;34;11 - 00;07;08;19
Lisa
And that may not be true for everybody. And how often we make things mean something that they don't meet. Or they could have multiple, multiple, multiple interpretations. So how often are you putting expectations on other people to be a certain way, and then interpreting how they are or aren't responding to those expectations and making it mean something about you when it has nothing to do with you.
00;07;08;22 - 00;07;56;04
Lisa
So we are meaning making machines. We'll never get away from that as humans, but we cause ourselves a lot of suffering when we're constantly living in this place of expectations and interpretations. So I really challenge you, and this is going to be a short episode today, but I really challenge you to look at your life, to look at your relationships, to look at the things that are causing you pain, suffering, discomfort, whether it's with your partner, whether it's with your kids, whether it's a business relationship, or maybe it's just an expectation of an experience that you wanted to have or that you want to have.
00;07;56;07 - 00;08;28;26
Lisa
And then what interpretations are you making about it? On the flip side, and if you were making different interpretations, how might you choose differently? Are you making everything mean something about you? Because if you have an underlying belief that there's something wrong with you, you were always going to look for the things that reinforce that belief that there's something wrong with you or that you're causing this to happen.
00;08;28;29 - 00;09;01;02
Lisa
And often the reason why things keep happening over and over and over again in your life is because of the interpretations you're making about it, or because you're making it mean something about you when it literally has nothing to do with you. So I'll probably go deeper on this topic in future episodes or in writing, but these were just some of my thoughts and musings as I'm finishing out, today, the first day of the Camino.
00;09;01;02 - 00;09;23;17
Lisa
So maybe I'll do a bunch of shorter episodes and drop them. I don't know, I don't have any expectations around that. But I thought it was nice to share the view. And I always like these kind of episodes where it's just really off the cuff, and he just speaking what's on my heart and what's in my head, and trusting that whoever needs to get this message is going to get it.
00;09;23;21 - 00;09;55;17
Lisa
So your homework assignment, if you should choose to accept, is look at all the relationships in your life and really be honest with yourself about the expectations you have of other people, and then the interpretations or the meaning that you're giving those expectations. And what would change if you released your attachment to those expectations being met? You stopped expecting people to be something that they're not, and you took responsibility for whether or not those relationships are what's going on.
00;09;55;17 - 00;10;17;09
Lisa
The dynamics are the right thing for you. Are you making it mean something about you, or are you making it mean something about them? Lots of different layers to this. But anyways, that's for you. That's for you to explore. So I hope you enjoyed the walk.
00;10;17;12 - 00;10;41;09
Lisa
And I will catch you on the next episode and hopefully I'll have not be quite as winded. Who knew I was going to start recording just as I was going up the hill? But I hope you're enjoying my view as me. And if you're watching this on YouTube, and if you ever have the opportunity to walk the Camino, I'm off the Camino.
00;10;41;11 - 00;11;01;00
Lisa
It might be a spiritual expansion for you. It might not. You know, I'll finish up with this. I think a lot of people come to the Camino because they think they need to come here to have a spiritual awakening. And the truth is, you can be spiritual every single day by getting your ass outside and walking in nature and by deciding you want to connect with yourself.
00;11;01;00 - 00;11;21;24
Lisa
You don't actually have to fly to Spain to find yourself or to disconnect. But we keep telling ourselves these stories and that's what it takes. And it doesn't. It takes setting the intention that you want this in your daily life and then making it happen, taking good care of yourself, taking good care of your body, taking care of yourself spiritually.
00;11;21;26 - 00;11;26;07
Lisa
Emotionally, physically.
00;11;26;09 - 00;11;49;13
Lisa
You know, we keep trying to put ourselves into boxes as humans, and we're not meant to live that way. So it doesn't surprise me that the Camino has gotten more and more popular over the years, because we're all seeking something that we keep going out there to look for it when it's been in us all along. So on that note, thanks for tuning in to another episode and I will catch you in the next one.
