Yesterday I found inspiration on Twitter via Paulo Coelho.

I love this quote because it has proven true for me on this journey of following my dreams. One year ago I didn’t even know what the Camino de Santiago was. I definitely saw and learned few things about it on my tour of Northern Spain last October.  After my return home to California, a few signs and circumstances arose that drew me closer to the Camino. They call it “the calling.”

For starters, I had been seeing scallop shells everywhere. In February, I took a glass casting workshop at The Crucible in Oakland.  I gravitated towards a scallop shell in a box of objects for us to use in our projects. I pressed this shell into damp sand mold and carefully removed it. Hot glass was poured into it, resulting in a beautiful glass sculpture of a shell.  Below is a photo I took when it was still glowing as the molten glass took the shape of the cast.

I always love getting crafty, and now I know a way to cast the shapes of my future Camino shells.

A few weeks later, I was enjoying lunch at Chipotle when I noticed the bag was decorated with Two Minute Alchemy, a beautiful short story by Paulo Coelho.  I had just seen him interviewed on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday TV program. I later learned that the Camino is a special place for Coelho. It was during his Camino that he realized his dream was to become a writer. See documentary linked on my videos page.

Come mid-March, I was already thinking a Camino was in my future, but I’d probably wait a few years until a milestone birthday (like many people do) to walk it.  At that point I had seen The Way, and thought there was only one 500 mile Camino route. How wrong I was!

In April, I took a writing workshop and selected the Camino as the topic for my final essay.   The research I did for this paper opened me up to a network of people who warmly welcomed me into their community and answered all my questions (and then some!)  I attended pilgrim hikes, interviewed volunteers, watched films, scoured the web and checked out every book about the Camino from my local library. The more I learned about the Camino, the more it provided me with a desire to experience it. I felt like I tapped into a stream of consciousness that existed for a thousand years and was leading the way.  Circumstances, people and events I encountered on this journey seem to have conspired to help me fulfill my dream.  It turns out, I am not alone in the calling of the Camino! I met some amazing people who are as passionate about it as I am.  I am happy to share their stories on my Favorite Camino Blogs page and future posts.

As Coelho put it, “The Universe conspires to help the dreamer.”

So what became of that class paper?  I scored an A, and Planning for a Buen Camino became a series that launched this blog in June. I continue to be amazed at what I learn about the Camino, and want to share it with those who might be curious about it too. I’m just following my bliss and sharing the dream.   In fact, the word dream is even part of my blog’s tagline, The journey begins when the dream awakens.

Indeed, the Universe conspires, just as the Camino provides.

Have you found Camino inspiration on Twitter? Dígame in the comments below or  @ twitter.com/caminoprovides.