Reframe

I reminded myself she was playwright,
a writer,
as well as an actress – 

which explained why her descriptions were so vivid 

and articulately expressed.

In a recent BBC interview, 

Emma Thompson,
the British actress I loved so much in 

Much Ado about Nothing 

and
Sense and Sensibility,

was describing the process
of defining her characters, 

breathing life into them, 

making them real. 

She spoke of ’ ingesting’ all the information she could, 

'metabolizing it' to find what could feed the character, 

what was healthy and life giving –
and then excreting all that remained; 

letting go of all the sh*t she didn’t need.

I started laughing in the car, 

startling the dogs –

 although you’d think they’d be used to it by now. 

What a brilliant way for me
to reframe my walk on the Camino.

I’ve thought of it as 

running away, 

walking toward, 

a pilgrimage, 

a journey,

 a vision quest, 

a rite of passage 

and 

a metaphor. 

Now, 

with Emma’s carefully chosen words
resonating in my head, 

it’s also become a way
to re-set my metabolism. 

After decades of 'ingesting' all the
stories,
information,
opinions,
viewpoints
legalities,
and feelings
at work, 

I’ll have 500+ miles to sift through it all, 

find what’s healthy and life giving – 

and 'excrete' all the rest!

Well done, Emma.
Thank you!