We are living in a challenging, perhaps pivotal, time; moments of change usually are. Yet in the midst of global unrest, we still have to exist. We have to work, cook dinner, make our kids feel safe, vacuum. The anxiety of this juxtaposition can ravage us with uncertainty, or with a mindful approach to our own well being, as well as to the energy we put in the world, it can gift us the opportunity to discover that whilst we might be living through contrast, we can still – as understood by brains more learned and in circumstances more challenging, “Be the change we want to see in the world.”
But how?
How can we be well in a time of strife for so many. It feels weird, like we’re uncaring or perhaps we’re just not up to the task. But I challenge that it’s our responsibility to keep our little corner of the world tidy. To maintain cool heads, to be mindful of ourselves, our actions. To be what we want to see and remember that we too are offering others the opportunity to see what they’d like to be. The biggest challenge here is in mastering our own minds. We might understand in theory that the mountain does not move, but how does that teach us steps to actualize grounded mountain energy?
It doesn’t. Turns out we have to negotiate those steps all on our own.
I share this sentiment in my sessions, it is as simple as it is profound: We are not our brains. We are not the thought patterns constantly looping through our minds, nor need we be defined by them. Thought patterns are simply the way that the brain has learned to negotiate our experience. Science has evolved enough to show us that we can change the way our minds work with guidance and techniques. If negative thought patterns are an issue I encourage reaching out to trusted practitioners to help resetting specific patterns. It is worth noting that relearning our brains is not a task that medication can fix. This requires us to to sit with ourselves and become aware of our patterns. So aware that eventually the awareness itself functions as a kind of cut and replace. Here we learn tools that revolutionize the way we interact with the brain.
Consider – What it would take to step into the energy of the mountain that cannot be moved? We first would need to learn to control our thought patterns. These are the patterns that are catalyst to our behaviors. Then we’d have to determine the patterns of behavior that we’d like for ourselves. Imagine we are each a microcosm of ‘Being the change that we want to see in the world.’ if the world is in conflict, then it stands to reason that we must be a kind of peace. That means that despite the news spreading doom on repeat and the calamity happening around us – we close the door on the external and find a serenity within our own selves. It is within our power to manage the looping patterns and watch the circus through quiet eyes. In fact, I’d challenge that it can only be in an energy steeped in contrast that we appreciate, from a higher aspect, how profound is the nature of the mountain. If we are always in a state of ease, the mountain is not spectacular, but when we look at the mountain from the heart of struggle we can appreciate what it requires to not be moved.
Spiritually speaking, the mountain represents a kind of spiritual ascension. A leveling up if you will in a spiritual regard. An argument can also be made for the mountain itself being the obstacle that one must overcome in order to spiritually ascend. Either way, rooting deeply amidst imbalance on a global scale, perhaps down to the inner workings of our day to day experience and finding peace despite the contrast, is the medicine that the mountain offers. Internal quiet can seem unattainable, but that’s just the mind trying to tell us the way it expects us to be.
The mountain teaches that we need not cede our sovereignty to the mind. It assures us that we do not need direction on how to be. As the mountain simply is, we too, simply are. And as we take a breath to search for our own sense of being, life slows down. When we slow down, our energy stops its frantic fluctuation giving us the opportunity to remember how it’s best for us to be. As inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, we are reminded to – Know thyself. This is the way to the quiet path of knowing. And embarking on the path to self, we begin to find a sense of equilibrium.
Here, is a gentle reminder that no one needs to explain to you how to be. Only you are in your skin. Only you can know exactly what you came here to be. Give yourself permission to be it.
Know thyself; and find your highest expressions. Part of our purpose on this plane, is to do the work required to remember the ways we each know how to be. The us our supreme selves nudge us toward being.
Here we take our own hand and walk ourselves home.
No one can walk our path for us. In this age of instant gratification we have forgotten that the seed planted does not immediately sprout from the ground. No. First the seed is culled from its place of comfort and then it is buried in foreign soil. The growth begins in the dark beneath the surface, where the seed finds that despite it all, it knows exactly what to do.
We too know what to do. And as with the seed, it’s in the dark that we grow.
We are being plucked from our comfort and planted anew. But we need not fear the darkness, we simply stretch toward our inner sun. And just by finding our own light, we shine that brilliance into the world.
When it seems darkest it’s up to us, to turn our lights on, and shine.
