It's time again to inhale and exhale to bring your attention to your breath,
To bring your breath deep into your body.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Welcome to a hit of hope,
And this one is definitely salty.
Sometimes life plops a mountain down in front of you.
You were trucking along just fine,
Or maybe mostly fine,
And then wham,
Bam,
Thank you ma'am,
Mountain.
And it's easy to think that climbing that goddamn mountain is the hardest part.
The effort it takes,
The feeling that you have not one lick of air left in your lungs.
And it might feel as if you have made it one inch in a day.
One fucking inch.
And yes,
It is hard.
But I was just climbing a mountain recently,
And it occurred to me the descent can be just as bad.
Or maybe I should say it can be tricky.
One false step and you could go tumbling down the slick face of the mountain.
What's to stop you from crashing with a thud?
What's to stop you from breaking into pieces as you fall?
Inhale,
Exhale.
When climbing a mountain,
It seems easier to focus on the right here and right now.
Where is the very next handhold?
Where can I right now put my foot?
And so you climb inch by fucking inch.
But when you reach the top,
Well,
First of all,
There are all those damn edges.
God,
I hate edges.
Okay,
Sorry.
Focus.
Fine,
You made it to the top.
And maybe you get a glorious view.
Look at me.
Look what I did.
Aren't I awesome?
Ah,
Hell.
Unless you want to live on that mountain top,
Where there is probably no food or water,
Now you have to get back down.
And where in the hell did the footholds go?
And there's shale.
And let's not forget gravity.
When you have survived,
When you have climbed the mountain,
What happens after is just,
If not more,
Important.
How can you keep yourself safe?
How can you move mindfully?
Because let me tell you,
On my way back down the mountain,
Both the actual and the metaphorical,
The more afraid I was,
The more I felt as if I were about to fall.
Inhale.
Exhale.
So on my way down my mountain,
I talked to a stranger.
I thanked the tree that helped me,
And I slid on my ass.
Do what you have to do to keep you safe as you make your descent back into the real world after you've climbed your mountain.
And make sure to look around,
And look inside,
And marvel.
Namaste.
