Shirley MacLaine and the Creative Awakening

With a nod to Shirley MacLaine and the journey that still speaks to our souls

Long before I ever wrote The Hidden Camino, I walked the ancient pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago with questions burning in my heart. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?

The path was quiet that morning. Mist clung to the fields. And as I took each step, I could feel it: this wasn’t just a walk. This was a creative awakening. A remembering. A beginning.

When the Path Becomes a Mirror

Every footstep seemed to echo with the lives of those who came before me. Centuries of seekers, poets, mystics, lovers, and wanderers. Like me, they had questions. They wanted answers. They sought meaning, direction, peace.

And that’s when I remembered: I wasn’t the first writer to walk this path.

Shirley MacLaine, in her best-selling spiritual memoir 'The Camino', shared her own mystical journey along the same trail. Known for Out on a Limb, she broke boundaries in the ’80s by openly exploring reincarnation, soul purpose, and cosmic connection a long before it was mainstream.

She didn’t walk the Camino for fitness or fun or 'as a goal'. She walked it to hear the call of something beyond. Just like I did. Just like so many of us do.

Creative Living Is a Pilgrimage

You don’t have to walk 800km across Spain to be on a creative path.

Every time you create something honest, from a blog post to a collage, a song lyric to a heartfelt email, you are walking a kind of inner Camino. A quiet, determined journey toward truth, self-expression, and a life filled with meaning.

This is the art of creative living.

It’s not about being perfect.

It’s not about “content.”

It’s about feeling fully alive in the world—seeing, sensing, remembering, making.

“The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”— Eden Phillpotts (and a quote Shirley MacLaine would definitely nod to)

The Hidden Stories We Carry

As I walked, I felt deeply that we are not blank slates.We are storytellers. We are story carriers.

Our identities are woven from ancestral memory, cultural heritage, ancient myth, and everyday beauty. We carry inside us forgotten songs, half-told stories, languages we don’t speak but somehow understand.

And when we create through art, through words, through presence; we remember.

pilgrim enjoying the view over the mountains

pilgrim walking along a street in spain

pilgrim walking through historical arches along the camino

You Are Both Heir and Creator

There was a moment on the Camino when I stood at the top of a quiet hill, alone with the wind and silence. I felt so small. Just a speck of dust in time.

But then I realized, this is the paradox. We are dust. And we are divine. We are fleeting. And we are unforgettable.

You and I… we are part of a story that began long before us and will continue long after. We are both the legacy and the legacy-makers at the same time.

Every brushstroke, every blog post, every risk we take to live creatively, adds another thread to this wild beautiful human tapestry.

A Blog is a Sacred Space

You might be thinking: This is lovely, Louise, but what does this have to do with blogging? Everything.

Because your blog can be your own Camino. A place where you walk your thoughts into the light. A place where you share stories that others didn’t know they needed. A place where truth, creativity, and wonder meet.

Whether you’re sharing art, insights, or reflections, your blog becomes a living archive of who you are and how you see the world. That’s no small thing. That’s sacred.

The Road Is Still Unfolding

As the sun set over the Camino and the day came to a close, I felt full. Not from answers, but from 'connection with the world around me.'

I didn’t walk away with everything figured out. But I did walk away with clarity that what mattered to me was to live creatively. To share truthfully. To tell our stories before they slip away, and remembering that even our smallest actions ripple through time.

We are not just walking the path; we are the path. And that, my friend, is the greatest creative journey of all.

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Louise Sommer is a collage artist, bestselling author, and cultural storyteller with an MA in Educational Psychology. She specialises in creativity, communication, and the cultural narratives woven through history, myth, and memory. Her book The Hidden Camino takes readers on a soulful journey through forgotten histories and sacred places. Since the 1990s, Louise has travelled widely across Europe, exploring how stories shape identity, belonging, and creative expression. Through her writing, design, and workshops, she invites readers into a world of curiosity, beauty, and deep connection.

✨ Explore her art at Collage Art Studio by Louise Sommer

✨ Discover more at louisesommer.co

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