“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” ~ Edmund Hillary

There is a paved walking path on the south side of our local ski hill, Granite Peak… and leads up to the State Park.  It has become a very good friend over the last year, and will always be a place for me to connect, and get grounded and centered.

I took these pictures on my cell phone this last spring ~ trying to capture it’s beauty.

Perhaps it’s more of an experience, but one thing I know for sure is that this mountain not only contains messages – but lessons for mastering your challenges, and  mastering life.

And it’s true…  sometimes feels like your “moving mountains” in life,  as you are paving your own path to where you want to go, and suddenly your in the midst of a challenge you didn’t bank on.

Those life experiences feel like an impossible climb at times…. just as this mountain walk did for me when I first started.

But the truth is — that moving through your biggest challenges, through your life contrast, through your toughest climbs are by far the life experiences that expand you the most.

It’s not getting lucky that expands you — it’s the journey, the the ups, downs, ebbs and flows that expand the spirit also known as YOU.

It’s through these life climbs that you become ever stronger, and an ever more mindful manifestor,  and masterful creator of life.

So…this mountain walk has become sacred in all sense of the word.  It’s beautiful, it centers me, it moves energy through me.  It’s meditative. Healing. Cathartic.  It’s a problem solver, a quiet listener, an all accepting partner, and lead group therapist all at the same time.

On top of that — it brings unique perspective to life that I didn’t quite bank upon – for I had no idea what would unravel for me in mind, body, and spirit.

After the shin splints healed (LOL!) and I was able to pay attention to energy, vibration, intuition, and my connection…. and I began to see the deeper meaning here.

So ~ after much contemplation, here are a few of  those lessons:

7  Mountain Lessons for Mastering Life (+ your biggest challenges!)

1.  Come prepared.  Let’s just say that I’ve been a tad unprepared from time to time… walked in the rain with no rain gear, gotten eaten up by a few bugs (no deet!) and have been scared to death of the dark when our timing’s been off and a flash light forgotten.  So… right.  A little preparation is a good thing.  Prepare for your experiences, and when you don’t ~ create through your challenges!  We’ve been blessed by a good soaking, made peace with the bugs, and learned to stock the car with the goods.  Such is life.  You live, you learn, you adjust, you expand and you grow.  How could you prepare yourself — spiritually, emotionally, energetically… to lean yourself in the direction of your dreams?

2.  Be present.  It a lot of fun to focus on getting to the top– but you come to quickly find out you can activate the other side of that coin… the NOT being there “yet” — and then it’s not so much fun, right?  I like to ping pong back and forth…the top is near… and here I am.  It’s a mantra.  The top is near, and here I am.  Oh, look a twig that looks like a wishbone!  Wouldn’t of seen that if I was “only” focused on the top.  Enjoy your moment.  Be present in life.  Seek what’s in front of you, your opportunity, your experiences, and your creative power is right here.  How often do you give away your creation power in the present by obsessing with the top?  Create balance between visioning and present moment being.

3.  Honor your peaks and valley’s.  You don’t climb the mountain to stay at the top, do you?  I don’t.  In fact I climb climb climb… hang at the top for a second and enjoy the joy ride down, just to turn around and climb again the next day.  The journey is exhilarating, blood pumping, and life giving. Such is life.  Honor your ebbs and your flows.  There is much to be learned and gained through all of these vibrational states of life.  Where are you ebbing right now?  And where are you flowing?  Feel through your challenges and focus on your flows.

4.  Cultivate Your Creation Space.  You have the power within you, through the power of your intention and your presence, to cultivate “creation space”.  Now, my office is that.  Occasionally my car is that.  Coaching sessions are SO that.   And low and behold, the mountain became that.  Pretty cool.  We’ve learned that we can totally expand an idea, solve problems, and be totally infused with spirit in 1 hour and 7 minutes flat ~ and we created a new space it flows through….called Mountain.  (Funny how that’s just about the length of my coaching sessions!)   Think about “your space”, or creating one and your life challenges will begin to seem like science experiments in your creation laboratory.

5. Energy in motion tens to stay in motion.   The truth is, love in motion tends to stay in motion… and as you love your physical self through a movement that you are aligned with ~ you create through your body on many levels.  Can you feel the shift in your body when you move it?  Do you know your energy changes?   Sometimes you’ve got to make a decision to flow your energy, and it does.  And life responds.  With that said….

6.  Your body is a vehicle for spiritual growth. It’s funny how we tend to separate our bodies from our spiritual endeavors… like don’t bother with the physical, with the dense earthly energy.  However, consider your expansion through the physical, vs. expanding away from the physical. The ride is sweet and vibrationally blissful.   People wonder why exercise “works”, and it’s because you raise your vibration to it’s natural state of love when you care for it, and when you allow the body to release emotional resistance on a physical and cellular level.  I believe it’s much more about that than building muss-kles.

7.  Stuff flows downhill ~ much easier than up.   Sometimes you have to choose effortlessness. Did you know you can?  Did you know you can choose struggle or you can choose ease?  Struggle is a match to scarcity.  Flow is a match to abundance, and joy and peace of mind.  What choice could you make today…. in your thought or in your emotion, and even in your action….that would ease the struggle and activate your flow?