An Untitled Meditation Trail Dispatch No. 5 from the Camino de Santiago bridge from Arcade to Ponte Sampaio Sometimes I find myself saying thank you, after an outstandingly pleasant section of going, to some part of that going. I'm not always sure which part it is exactly, that I'm thanking. Sure, sometimes there was an exceptionally wise tree or stunning waterfall, but sometimes it was just an area in space that felt perfectly right. It reminds me that at any scale of percep

Payton's fourth dispatch from the Camino. A reflection on the lasting power of the written word, two of his own journal entries (purple flowers along a stream in Redondela, an unplanned conversation in a churros line), and a small invitation: take one moment from your day and write it as if it mattered. It did.

Payton's third dispatch from the Camino. He leaves the Atlantic, follows the Minho River inland, and crosses the border into Spain by moonlight. A reflection on the many faiths along the trail, the one pilgrim who is all pilgrims, and a small Chinese poem about a hat, a bundle, and a staff.

A small village passed Payton by on the trail. On one farmhouse, in painted Portuguese tiles, a poem about joy. His second dispatch from the Camino de Santiago is an ode to the Atlantic that has walked beside him for a week, and a question for the rest of us: what brought you joy today?

"Beginning is an action that we must take, unlike beginnings, which we can simply watch occur to us." Payton sends his first dispatch from Porto, where the Camino de Santiago stretches out in front of him, one step at a time. A meditation on the quiet beginnings we keep on hold.