You create space for new beginnings.  

You eventually feel lighter and liberated. 

You reduce stress and anxiety in your life.

You empower yourself to live authentically.

You allow yourself to gain emotional clarity.

You validate your trust in yourself and your future.

You remove the heavy weight off of your shoulders.

The beautiful landscape of the Aran Valley (Val d'Aran in Aranese Occitan). Photos by ampd_foto.

The Aran Valley is a valley in the Pyrenee mountains. It's culturally part of the nation of Occitania, and the local language is the Aranese dialect of Occitan. In the year 1213, France waged a Crusade against the Catharists (a Christian religion widespread in Occitania) and the Aran Valley asked Catalonia to be protected to escape the persecution and genocide. Since then, the Aran Valley has administratively been part of Catalonia, but retained for centuries a de facto independence. Their self-government ended after Spain's occupation of Catalonia, when the Spanish monarchy abolished the Aranese assembly government in 1834. (You can read more about this process and Aran's history in this previous post.)

Today (June 17th) is Hèsta d'Aran, the Aranese national day. This holiday commemorates June 17th 1991, when the Aran Valley got its self-government back, after the end of Franco's fascist dictatorship of Spain who persecuted all national minorities and applied a centralist and Spanish supremacist rule. After the arrival of democracy and a decade of decisions, Aran got back a certain degree of autonomy, the maximum that Catalonia is allowed to give them under Spanish rule.