One of the spots on the Camino de Santiago is the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). I had read about it beforehand and expected a larger cross. However, what I had read said bring a stone from home to put at the foot of the cross. This stone is to symbolize something you want to leave behind. I gather most people are like me; they forget to bring a stone and pick one up along the way to symbolize the stone from home that is to symbolize what they want to give up. I arrived at the cross, tossed my stone on the pile, and told it good bye. I was going to leave behind my habit of worrying what people think of me.
Obviously, an act like this is worthless unless you do it with a certain attitude. Symbolic rituals, I have discovered can be rather powerful when the act and the intention are just right for the time and place. This tossing of my stone has helped me when I find myself with some trivial worry about what others think. Today I have a disappointment at work. It feels like I threw away my stone and have received back an end-of-the-course test. What charming karma . Perfect I guess.
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