Mountain - A Practice For The Heavy Things In Life

No matter how strong you are, you cannot push your mountain aside. You cannot hide your mountain under your bed. You cannot dress it up in Grandma’s housecoat. Well, that might be fun to try, but I doubt it would be successful. Maybe you don’t have a mountain and you have no idea what I’m talking about. Or maybe you know exactly what I’m talking about—the mountain that is there.
A heavy thing in your life.

Reviews

🙏 Totally amazing, you hit the nail on the head. When I was a little girl I thought God lived on top of a gorgeous mountain peak close to where I lived because it was simply perfect in my eyes. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains and they always symbolize Home to me. So when I do work like this I have to tell myself that this mountain is only Symbolic. Thank you so much for sharing the the truths I needed to hear. 🙏😊🦋🌻☮💐

This is for everyone who is climbing their mountain whilst wearing flip-flops, carrying a bowling ball and dragging a small car behind them (as well as the actual mountain) The light blazes out of you. Namaste 🙏💗

Okay, this one I needed tonight.
My mountain gets harder to scale every day, but I can still see the lake, and the sky it reflects, with each ascent. Every trip, every step and handhold and every windswept crag in its face is familiar and so well known to me by now. But now each foot I climb is harder than the last, harder than yesterday, harder than this morning.
So I sit at the edge of the water and bask in the upside-down sky and remind myself that it is ALWAYS worth the work.
It will always be worth the work.
The work will be over soon. There will be no more mountain to climb every morning and night.
I will miss the mountain desperately when it is gone. To be honest, I already do.

In 6th grade, we were required to write 20-page term papers, complete with footnotes. My topic? Mountains.

As I listened to this, the various shapes and sizes of mountains came back to me from that paper in the mid-1980s (as well as my undergrad geology class a decade later). It struck me that I do not have "a" mountain. I have a mountain range, one with a number of mountains of differing sizes and shapes, weathered dome and shield mountains as well as newly-created and sharply defined mountains born of seismic and tectonic activity. Foothills and majestic peaks, each unique. Each mine to climb and explore.

And it further occurred to me as I realized this, that I am well-prepared for this challenge. For almost my entire life, I have enjoyed hiking when it is available to me. It is something I have done on a high school backpacking week in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, and a frequent weekend pastime with my husband when living in Alaska. I know how to pace myself and how to explore, how the weather can change suddenly and how conditions can swiftly turn from ideal to life-or-death.

I also know that as health conditions have seen me become more challenged by climbing and hiking, I have adapted and met these challenges head-on - joint braces, learning to use trekking poles, mindfully and thoughtfully selecting hikes based on my abilities each day instead of simply accepting what is there, dressing for the weather appropriately.

We all likely carry our own mountain ranges rather than a single mountain within us. My direct experience with this also leads me to the consideration that we also all likely have our own unique skill set in meeting the challenges of exploring each mountain. We just need to identify them and implement them with conscious awareness, each time.

The hike can be arduous. The rewards can be great. Your burning legs and chest can be forgotten as you step out above the mists at the treeline and witness the sunrise over the ocean from the cool, snow-kissed heights and rarefied clear air. Choose your mountain each day and explore what you can of it. It will soon become familiar and no longer imposing, releasing you from the fear of the unknown and ready to face a new mountain in your range.

Thank you for sparking a morning thought process that brings back fond memories and simultaneously gives encouragement for the adventures to come. I wore out my favorite pair of Timberland hiking boots long ago, but I am now feeling inspired to possibly go looking for a new pair. Perhaps on Black Friday. 😁 With gratitude and thanks, I see the light in you. 🤲🏻❤️🤲🏻

Thank you for reminding of the landscape and the trails leading up. Namaste!