Stone by Stone by Sue Kenney

It wasn't intentional to leave it out. It just happened that way.

About the glow....I am not sure what happened to me on the Camino. I was

definately touched in some way and the end result of that still has to unfold. I

am different than before I left and there is no doubt that people are drawn to

me. I just accept it. I don't judge people or the situation I am in. My

compassion for all people has evolved through awareness. I am so completely

grateful for everything that is in my life. Sometimes I wonder if it's all a dream.

Now I will go on tour across the country in the fall. My book is on promotion in

every Chapters and Indigo in Canada so I will visit as many as possible to sign

books. I know by your note that this is the right path for me. Thank you again.

Buen Camino,

Sue

http://www.suekenney.ca

Samantha Corbett wrote:

Hi Sue, I've met you a few times in the Whistle stop while visiting my mother in

Washego. The first time was last year I think. I was drawn to your display of

CDs immediately. I purchased your CD after a lovely conversation with you and

waited until I was home in Rockton to listen to it when no one was home. I loved

it. I loved it so much I couldn't wait to share it with my friends. I happened to go

out to lunch with a friend the next day and brought her the CD and a stone. I told

her she should keep them and I'd get another. Well it seemed every time I got

up north after that it was on a Sunday and your store was closed. I thought

about your CD so much. I couldn't remember all the details of the stories but l

loved the way it made me feel and how it inspired me to look at life a little

differently. I thank you for this.This summer I stopped into the Group of Five in

Washego, and again I was drawn to your book. It's funny because I don't read

very much lately but I was looking forward to two things on my vacation. One

was to listen to your CD again and the other was to get lost in a book. The

friendly person at the gallery explained that the book was written by you and I

should visit your store. I don't know if the lady could tell, but I just about

squealed with delight when she said it was about your walk on the Camino. I

told her I'd purchase it at the store since I wanted to buy some more CD's for

Christmas gifts.I purchased your book and a few CDs in your store later in the

week and read the book in a few days. I loved it. I hated for it to end. But I love

the way you ended it. I need to know more about that feather now. I hope you

share your experiences with us again in either a CD or another Book. Oh and I

was wondering about your knee, you stopped writing about it after your miracle.

Is this because you focussed on other details of your journey to write about or

did your knee start to feel better? Just wondering.While reading your book I

thought to myself about the profound things that happen to you. What I mean is

how your friend told you she sent you angels, and how your coach told you

things that seemed to be meant for your Camino more than rowing. Then the

dream and the feather of course. These things just don't happen to everyone I

thought. I had spoken to you a few times at your store and for a moment at the

market, and I've noticed how you have a sort of glow about you. Not literally of

course, but you draw people in somehow. I wondered if it's just you because

you are a special person or is it all of us that have profound things happen to us

and we just don't allow ourselves to notice them. We dismiss them because

we're too busy to listen. I think your glow is your spirit. It's awakened somehow

and it shines. You've inspired me open my spirit to possibilities. I feel I'm forever

changed, and if I forget or get lost on my journey I just have to listen to your CD

to keep me focussed.

Thank you Sue,

Samantha Corbett

October 2004

Samantha,

This is truly moving for me to read. My gratitude goes to you for your honest

words. It's truly inspiring to me.

I stopped writing about my knee in my diary and in the book. It was as though

it healed on its own and then it was a concern at all. Funny, I wonder if I kept

all my fear in my knee and once I had faced it, there was no need to experience

the pain of it. It wasn't intentional to leave it out. It just happened that way.

About the glow....I am not sure what happened to me on the Camino. I was

definately touched in some way and the end result of that still has to unfold. I

am different than before I left and there is no doubt that people are drawn to

me. I just accept it. I don't judge people or the situation I am in. My

compassion for all people has evolved through awareness. I am so completely

grateful for everything that is in my life. Sometimes I wonder if it's all a dream.

Now I will go on tour across the country in the fall. My book is on promotion in

every Chapters and Indigo in Canada so I will visit as many as possible to sign

books. I know by your note that this is the right path for me. Thank you again.

Buen Camino,

Sue Kenney

October 2004

My Miracle on Cebreiro

Written by Sue Kenney March 2002

When I started the pilgrimage, I had written in my diary that I wanted to

accomplish two things on the Camino, besides the fact that I was walking 780 kms alone. I had just

been made redundant at a large corporate IT company, and walked out the door with a package. I had

been researching the Camino and decided that I should take the opportunity to go for a long walk,

while I could. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to be alone and to have a spiritual

journey.

At 45 years of age, I had a strong desire to find my purpose in life. To gain an understanding of myself

and what I could contribute to the world at large, to the universe. Having spent 20 years in a marriage

that broke up, with 3 teen aged daughters, over 20 years in the Telecom industry along with other

significant life events, I had lost the sense of who I was. I think it is affectionately called mid-life crisis!

Secondly, I wanted to have a love affair with myself. Really, I had forgotten

how to love myself, feeling that I had given so much love away I didn't have any left for myself.

Each day on the Camino, I would practice what it might be like to love myself. I

would walk tall, opening my heart to the love of the universe. I would pretend that I loved myself

imagining how one might look after themselves, if they were in love. When I met people, I tried to take

their love to make it a part of me or sometimes I would do nothing, just to be aware of noticing love.

Then I would stop and admire the scenery along the way, again taking love from

nature and the surroundings. Soon this became a discipline I focussed on all the time;

to move from taking love to becoming love. Over a period of 24 days I continued this

practice each morning as I started each day walking alone.

When I was in Los Arcos, around the 5th day of walking, I went out for

dinner in the evening with a group of pilgrims. That day I had noticed piles of stones, or rock cairns

along the way. I added stones to the pile not knowing why, but wanting to be a part of this ritual.

During dinner, I asked if anyone knew why there were stone piles or rock cairns along the roadside. It

was the German pilgrim who told me his version of the story of the "sorrow stones". He said that if

you pick up a stone and then put some of your sorrow into the stone,

when you place it down you will leave your sorrow behind. Well, this idea started a

new chapter in my pilgrimage. I had to make room in my heart for love and

soon learned that if I could leave some of my sorrow behind, I could create more

space for love. Near the end of the pilgrimage, I really wondered to myself if I had any

sorrow left at all. Everyday I left sorrow behind but not just my own

sorrow, I left my children's sorrow, my mother's, my sisters and many friends

sorrow on the Camino. When I met pilgrims along the way who told me of their sorrow, I would

secretly pick up a stone for them and leave their sorrow behind as well. It was my gift to them. Long

after I returned home from Santiago, I fully realized the power of leaving sorrow behind to open oneself

for love and compassion.

On the 24th day, in Villa Franca I met up with the German pilgrim again. We

talked all evening sharing stories of our experiences. It was through the conversation with him that I

realized that I had in fact found my purpose in life: to inspire others

to think differently about their lives, to be more loving. The next day we

walked up Cebreiro, finishing the grueling climb at 7:30PM at night in darkness.

Little did I know that it would be the following day that I was to experience the profound

outcome of the discipline of learning self love.

Again, I walked with the German pilgrim that day which was unusual for me

because I preferred to walk alone. Often we would stop and admire the mighty mountains of Galicia, as

it poured rain on us all day. It was now mid day and I had been

practicing self love all morning, even as we talked. Once again, we stopped

to take in the view of the mountains, this time my body was physically stirred.

As I stood there with my heart open, all the love of the universe came to me in

a rush. I called out with a pained moan and almost fell over, my knees

buckling against the power of this love. I became afraid and in my fear quickly decided to

get rid of the love in an effort to gain control. So, I moved the love away from me passing it

to the closest person, the only person there, the German pilgrim. Almost

instantly it came back to me with the same force. This time, although in fear, I surrendered to the

Camino and it's ways. At that moment, I openly accepted this love and to my

surprise, instead of becoming weaker because I gave in or surrendered, I

became filled with absolute love and incredible inner strength. It was like a beam of light breaking

through darkness.

Through this experience I discovered that for most of my life I had tried to

give love and then take it back, as two distinct actions. What I learned on Cebriero is that love is

flowing, constantly alive throughout the universe; not something to give and

take. I also learned that I became love through surrender. I learned that I

am love and I love myself.

I am forever grateful for "my miracle" on Cebriero.

with love,

Sue

Sue Kenney, a Canadian pilgrim

When I returned from Spain in December 2001, I came back to my life in the city of Toronto. I found

integrating the lessons of the Camino very difficult in this environment. 6 months later, 2 of my daughters

had moved in with their dad and my oldest daughter was at University in London, so I decided to move

to my cottage in Floral Park on Lake Couchiching. I spent most of the winter alone writing workshops,

poetry, fairy tales and stories about my life experiences. Up until this point in my life, I have never been

a writer. I took a Creative Writing workshop at Ryerson, learned the basics and developed a style

from there. I tried to write a book from my diary of the Camino, but couldn't get the story down the

way I wanted it.

Recognizing my medium is my voice, I found a recording studio at Spadina and Queen and a

professional who would work with me, since I had never even been in a studio or recorded before.

After some struggles disconnecting the feedback that I wasn't receiving in the studio, I finally

surrendered to myself, removing all judgment and just started telling my stories. The outcome is a

moving storytelling CD with inspirational anecdotes about the people and experiences I encountered on

my journey.

The CD is called, Stone by Stone...inspirational stories about a woman's journey to self love. It

will be released early next month. Proceeds from the sale of each CD will go back to contribute to the

maintenance of the hostels that house the pilgrims on the Camino. My purpose in life is to inspire people

in some way so they can experience more love in every aspect.

Every day I inspire people in some fashion, through the constant discipline of surrendering to universal

love, to being love, giving love and receiving love.

My life has changed considerably, as I live my purpose in everything that I do.

Here is an article that was written by a journalist who heard me speak about my journey at a business

luncheon in Brampton, Ontario.

http://www.thebramptonguardian.com/br/business/story/876149p-1040874c.html

And here is what another pilgrim said once he heard the CD.

Testimonial:

"I'd just like to say that I received Sue Kenney's CD, and took

forty minutes of quality time to relax and listen to it. It

surpassed all my expectations in terms of both production and

quality. It echo's many a beautiful moment that Manuela and I

shared together when on our Camino. And I can imagine that it will

resonate well with my mother too, who's never even stepped a foot

on the Camino. Manuela agrees that Sue has an angelic voice, which

along with her perfect timing, and the accompaniment of relaxing

music, and the occasional whisper of the wind, really makes her

inspirational story a joy to listen too."

Jason Young, pilgrim, London England

Sue Kenney

www.suekenney.ca

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