The past two weeks launching my own business has been incredibly fun. I have loved getting messy and just going for it, and I’ve especially loved seeing who my message is connecting with in order to help me refine how I can best help those on their own journey of soul excellence. Thank you for reading and sharing your feedback with me!
I wanted to share two exciting business housekeeping bits of news with all of you!
First, Soul Excellence Ventures is officially a Florida, LLC – wohoo! What I liked about taking this step with my business was the commitment I was making to myself and my fellow journeyers to legitimize the work and give it the proper legal structure.
Second, Soul Excellence now has a logo! I worked with Fivver and had the absolute best experience collaborating on this design over the last week. Here it is:
What I love about this design is its symbolism and symmetry to one of my other favorite symbols in the world – The Scallop Shell for the Camino de Santiago, otherwise known in English as The Way of St. James. Check out the similarities:
This was not planned at all! I hadn’t shared anything about the fact that I’ve walked The Way of St. James twice or suggested a design like this to the designer, but when I saw it, I felt an instant connection.
The scallop shell is a metaphor for the journey to Santiago de Compostela.
There are many routes – or pilgrimages – that bring you to the Cathedral at the end. Interestingly enough, in some parts of the Camino, such as in the Asturias region in Northern Spain, the shell typically points the opposite way, with the longest line at the center indicating the path toward the final destination. The same is true of the logo.
Each of us – at the center of the logo – is emanating our soul and our individual excellence out into the world. Or, we could imagine that we have traveled many paths in our lives, but they have all served to bring us closer and closer to our true and highest self.
The Camino de Santiago
For me, being a pilgrim on The Camino has been life-changing. In June of 2015, I traveled for two weeks with my partner at the time on The Portuguese Way from Porto to Santiago. The coastal scenery was absolutely stunning, although we almost wanted to give up when we walked for 20 km on cobblestones on the first day – ouch!
Earlier, in August of 2012, I walked for two weeks by myself on The Northern Route to Santiago for nearly 200 km. I had decided to celebrate one year of sobriety at the time by making this pilgrimage to express my gratitude to God and for myself for that gift. Along the way, I became friends with Roman and Mathieu, a father and son from Poland on a bonding trip. I met Lola, a woman from Madrid, who needed some solitude from her daily life. Each day I would meet and befriend a fellow pilgrim who was on the same journey and their own.
I slept on the floor of a church one night and in a dark, mossy monastery another. A few other nights I splurged for a small hotel room with hot water! I walked 20 km a day without music or distraction, just full presence. I tweaked my ankle and needed a walking stick to make it the final two days toward Santiago. I got a horrible blister on my right pinkie toe that has never really gone away. I got lost on my first day and almost resigned myself to sleeping on a riverbank – thank God that as the sun was setting, I finally had the courage to traverse a curving highway and discover a yellow arrow on the other side, guiding me to a auberge in the distance.
The Camino allowed me express and to be all of the things that I am and come naturally to me:
- daily diligence and forging ahead toward a worthy goal
- gratitude and awe for the beauty of nature and the delight of spending full days enjoying it
- camaraderie with and respect for my fellow pilgrims who were choosing to spend their precious vacation time in contemplation and physically challenged
- a belief in God, the Universe, a higher power, our highest selves – something bigger and grander and more inspiring than we can even put words to
- openness to new experiences, people, cultures, and ways of living
This visual representation of Soul Excellence is inspiring me to shine my light out into the world and to value the paths that I’ve traversed – and will traverse – on my journey to become a soul excellent leader.
Which retreats, pilgrimages, or other experiences have most inspired you?
-
En route, 2012 -
Made it with Lola! -
The Way -
Getting closer w Roman and Mathieu -
Night at the Monastery, 2012 -
Portuguese Way, 2015 -
Feeling on top of the world, 2015 -
No wrong answer? -
Official pilgrim
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]