The first step of pilgrimage is setting your intentions. Why do I feel called to embark on this journey? What am I seeking?

Setting a clear intention, or even a goal, allows you to focus your pilgrimage. It allows you to be more mindful of your intention for each step.

I call this "Naming" your pilgrimage.

I find that this is the only aspect of pilgrimage that must happen at some point in your journey. All other aspects are helpful and often essential, but "Naming" sets your intentions, which is the key to journey of a pilgrim.

Beware of expecting specific results. Just because you walk the pilgrim's path with intent and mindfulness does not mean you will definitely gain what you seek. But it does increase the likelihood.

After graduating from college, I felt as though I could not start any deeply meaningful work in the world because I feared that if I mis-stepped I would be wasting valuable time in which I should be "saving the world." I felt that I could not begin working in the world until I knew that what I chose to do was "right."

As a result, I floundered around, working retail jobs for a year, while I designed a pilgrimage for myself on the Appalachian Trail. I named my pilgrimage, "The search for my work in the world."

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Naming Your Journey | Blessing By Community | Simplicity | Being Renamed | Building Community | Moment of Grace | Search for Conclusion | Reintegration