I am currently listening to the Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic”, read by the author herself. I am enjoying it and being inspired by it, pretty much in equal measure. I just finished a section where she invites me (yes, it really does feel like she is talking directly to me) to live my life with curiosity. And in that moment two things flashed through my brain almost simultaneously. One was a photograph that I took while visiting the Oregon coast a couple of weeks ago, and more specifically the process that led up to me taking that photo. The other were the words I chose to put on my post-retirement calling cards – “Sauntering Coddiwompler.” If you flip the card over you will find these brief definitions of the words on the front – “Saunter: to travel reverently toward (or through) a holy place” & “Coddiwomple: to travel in a purposeful manner towards an an-yet-unknown destination”.

In that flash of image and words I realized that I have already experienced at least glimpses of this curiosity that Gilbert was inviting me to pursue. It is certainly not a practice I always follow. Indeed, much of my life has been shaped and impacted by a rather profound lack of curiosity. I have often moved through life just doing the next thing, without much reflection, examination, or curiosity. But sometimes … sometimes I have donned the mantle of curiosity and gone exploring. In the months leading up to my retirement in 2021 two words came into my awareness, and both of them captured my imagination. “Saunter” and “Coddiwomple”. They arrived separately and unattached. But in my imagination they were very quickly joined together, a description of what I hoped would become a description of the life I wanted to live, and the way I wanted to go about living it. It was more aspirational than descriptive, but it was a start, and as words on a calling card go this pair have served me well. 

So, back to the photograph. You will find it at the top of this blog post. It is an image of the Heceta Head Lighthouse, located on the Oregon coast, a few miles north of Florence. I arrived early, with the hopes of taking some interesting photographs of a rather iconic lighthouse. I didn’t have any particular perspective in mind, only an openness to what might show up. As I walked towards the base of the lighthouse a trail heading up the hill presented itself. Being in coddiwompler mode, I followed the path. That choice led to other choices – smaller, less traveled paths branching off from the main trail. Soon I was following instinct more than any actually trail. It is possible that I wasn’t even really supposed to be in that particular spot. But that is where I ended up, because that is where I needed to be to find the shot I had come looking for. It is likely that other photographs have been captured from that location, but I would be willing to bet that the number is far fewer than the ones taken from more traditional and accessible places. I knew I was in the right place the moment I arrived. It just felt good to me. I am proud of that shot. And I got there because I allowed curiosity to take me off the beaten path, by a circuitous route. And with a Sauntering Coddiwompler approach, I arrived at a holy place which I immediately recognized. 

What I am coming to learn is that I have a strong tendency to take my life far too seriously. Such an approach is not really very much fun, and doesn’t usually lead me in the direction of holy places. So, once again, I am going to try remembering that I was made for lighter hearted pursuits than that. When I slow down enough to practice being the Sauntering Coddiwompler I believe I was born to be, life unfolds in vastly more interesting ways – ways that Elizabeth Gilbert describes as “Big Magic.” My goal is to continue learning to live like that.