It was my executive coach who first noticed that I had gone strangely silent.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive…

I am nearly finished reading Susan Beaumont’s book, “How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You are Going: Leading in a Liminal Season.”

My life is my message. It might be raw. But it is also real.

Friday morning, February 16 I got the news that my mother had died. Quite honestly I felt it more as a gift than a tragedy.

So here is the deal. I am not sure exactly what I am going to write over the next six weeks.

Today I write. Tonight I will play guitar. That is, unless a flash flood crosses my path before then!

The point being this: By that eighth day I had learned to trust.

“Unmet goals are often considered failures. There is no failure with intention; only discovery.”

Pedal Pilgrim and the Cherokee Nation’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride organization are now partnering on a Trail of Tears pilgrimage project.

“It feels sort of funny to write this—to say that I spent five weeks walking across Spain for two really good pictures…

Before there was tourism, there was pilgrimage.

In the fall of 2014 I flew to Rome for a pilgrimage that I titled “From Rome to Rumi: A Pilgrimage from the Head of the Church to the Heart of Mysticism.”

I dug deep to match the steeper grade. Then a funny thing happened: my breathing deepened and my body relaxed. I felt a sense of relief—I was coming home.

How could I authentically say I’d gone down into the belly of the whale on this mythic journey if I bypassed the desert?

The line between observer and observed dissolves. I was no longer looking at a mountain: I was part of the mountain.

At the time, my thoughts unnerved me a little. Did I have a death wish? Was my longing about wanting to die?

About halfway between the summit and the town of Wisdom, I arrived at the Big Hole National Battlefield. I was inclined to ride on by…

Afterwards, I felt clean again. But more than that, I felt alive. Really alive. More alive than I had in a long time.

I was almost laughing by this point. “Warmshowers, Chris. You just described Warmshowers. I’ve already stayed five nights with their hosts on this trip.”