Of Peaks & Valleys

By Regina Roeder

July 29^th, 2022

The Mountain

Has always been a mythos.

A wonderful metaphor for life.

Each of us has climbed many mountains along their journeys.

Reached countless peaks.

All of us have been humbled by some ascends.

Some we never dared to climb & others we were not able to reach.

In the end, each mountain has invited us back to the valley

and its wisdom remains inside.

The valley and the peak belong together.

On our journey through the cycles of life we can invite both to become our teachers.

In this way we may join the conversation to stand still and pause, while contemplating on how we receive that mountain that might be standing in front of us in that given moment. That question that we are longing to find the answer to, that unknown space that we don't know how its void may be filled yet. That challenge, that we cannot see a way how to overcome it.

A lot of the times, a mountain is an obstacle that invites a deeper conversation, to slow down the pace, focus on the breath & honoring the place we find ourselves right now.

Daring to ask that question ~ How am I facing the mountain right in front of myself?

In that way, life is constantly challenging us, whether we walk in humility or pride or even struggle on this walk into unknown territory. Its pilgrimage highlights our desires, distractions and longings, driving us to force events and ascends that seem out of our true nature. Those greedy shortcuts that all of us are tempted to undertake along the path. Whether this be on the material or spiritual realm.

Yet every time we are too ambitious, life has a wonderful way of pulling us back to the ground, back to the valley. To humble our selfish temptations. And how much gratitude for each time when my ambitions are overtaking this mystery of our human existence. While entering a wheel of seeking ~ something outside of myself.

Something to give me structure, hold and belonging. Something to attach meaning to.

And instead of applying force, what happens when I allow a simple not knowing to fill my space even if it feels uncomfortable? It is this vulnerability that is connecting me again with each living being on this planet, through the remembrance that everyone else is also moving through unknown territory. In every moment.

Isn't the allegory of the mountain & the valley fitting to the daily conversation we are holding with the horizon we are facing? Who is leading the conversation? The head or the heart? Am I guided by my ancestral lineage, their fears and traumas or my curious, innocent, selfless self? May I have the courage to, despite what happens on the outside, connect back to my heartbeat?

Back to a rhythm that feels natural.

What an enriching conversation to have.

Since along the way, life will provoke me, showcasing all the parts that are not aligned with my true nature. My anger, greed and longings. When I stand in the valley in all my humility, transparent, am I still holding a light of love and honor?

Aren't all our experiences, all those turbulences and obstacles a way to deepen how we relate to each other, to remember the necessity of compassion and empathy in a world that often seems lacking those traits. My latest hike through the mountains of Switzerland made me smile. It reminded me how eager I can be while trying to achieve goals. All these expectations I put onto my shoulders. Can I leave them behind before continuing this journey?

May I ask, how am I standing in my centre if life is unexpectedly taking me on a different road? Isn't the way how we climb the mountain reflecting how we walk through life?

Am I struggling? Am I carrying too much on my back? How am I coping with obstacles and weather changes? Do I allow to not let the reaching of the peak define my posture?

The past couple of years invited a note of softness into my life, a gentleness for each step along the journey. A trust in the natural clearance of the path once it is time, an invite into action when the season has ripened. Allowing a certain surrender to the mind's dictation. Entering the field of vulnerability means entering a place of not knowing, an acceptance of what is and what had been. Sensing that the path will reveal everything that is needed within the given moment. A wisdom, that whatever crosses the journey, I agreed to its lesson long time ago, even though sometimes it feels too much, too heavy or too early.

Often easier said than done. But couldn't this be a new practice? Not wanting more, but harnessing what life reveals? In all its simplicity & surprising nature? Embracing what life brings towards me full of curiosity where its wisdom might lead me? No need to seek and desire. May we embrace each mountain in this playful way. A dance of making the outcome irrelevant. Whether we reach our goals or not, may not define our happiness, our sense of freedom and our self esteem. May we therefore be careful with our expectations.

Since those moments on the peak are never lasting,

still we try again and again.

The last mountain I climbed provided incredible views, endless flowers and herbs along the path. Countless colors and scents. A divine freshness of spring transitioning into summer. The first rays of the sun warming my torso, providing a welcoming start of the day. Lakes and various rock formations decorated the path while creeks were making their way effortlessly above the ground. Flowing downwards, to nourish the water and soil of this beautiful country. To provide a haven of clarity for its inhabitants. Dragonflies and butterflies enjoying the sweet nectar of the wild flowers.

And you know that feeling when reaching the top. That relief. That moment that you anticipated for hours, sometimes days. The final destination. And the release of pressure that has been built up to get there. What a metaphor for life. Driven by our desires we often do not see the gifts the journey provides. What currently surrounds ourselves. And yet we know that this arrival of the destiny, that moment of bliss is never lasting. In fact it always fades away. As does each season and each experience we move through on this planet. The natural cycle of life. We are still invited to dream & draw up goals, but may we remember if we cannot find that happiness and bliss in that given moment we won't ever find it on the top.

When I stood at the peak, I smiled.

I smiled, as I remembered those proud moments. Those moments that I called sucessfull on the material plane, that can lead to very greedy behavior, unconsciously. An unfulfilled hunger. A thirst that can never be stilled. At least nothing outside. May I reach the top and celebrate, knowing what follows growth is a natural decline. Like the breath, we expand and contract. When we entered this world of duality this is what we signed up for. To experience heat and cold, ups and downs, peaks and valleys. None of which are better or worse.

And as one of my teacher says from the mountain of the ego to the valley of humility. This is the natural journey each of us is undertaking. Look at the water, it flows downwards to merge with something else. Deriving from the same source, each drop has a different journey. Many obstacles will be provided along the path until the river merges with the sea.

And while reflecting those moments of pride, I turn silent. Any time when I identified with something outside myself I created entanglement. Life has an ironic way of grounding ourselves through the experience of opposites. Hard to grasp for the mind. And again I smile since only when we attach to those experiences they hurt, they are painful while reminding us of the transitory nature of life. Ultimately with our own disappearance.

Like the water flows downwards, we too are invited to experience both the peak and the valley, the shadow and the light. None of which are better or worse unless we allow them to be. Both inviting us to merge with the other in a playful way. And while standing on the top, I look at my friends and the darkening clouds, that are evolving into a spiral of different tones of grey. We had been on a pilgrimage accompanied by the water element while journeying through Switzerland's beautiful countryside. From the lakes and the rivers, to the snow and the rainbows. And also these clouds traveled from the lakes to the sky and back to the ground to evaporate into the ethers. For us an invite to stop resting at the top and make our way back to the sweet cabin that my friend calls her home in this beautiful space. And guess what? As easy as the ascend was, the descend was tripple effort. My knees were hurting. Again what a metaphor for life. Where am I resisting life's natural way of unfolding while being too rigid and stubborn about my mind created destiny?

And I look at the watercourse way. Me too, I am guided by this intuitive, playful force, yet often believe I know better what I need while forcing events and desiring to be somewhere else in that given moment without fully harnessing its blessing. Without being grateful for what I receive.

What a bittersweet descend for the next 3-4 hours contemplating about my knees and thighs. And how I am in general holding those conversations during inward phases, seasons of little progress on the outside. How am I holding my space? Oh life. I love you for always highlighting everything that needs to be addressed. All these blockages invitations to turn inwards. To release whatever I had been holding onto. To lighten my weight and soften my gaze. To become flexible again to dance with the currents of life.

Dear mountain, you break me, not to hurt me, but to open me to my own vulnerability and again reconnecting to my heart in times I had forgotten. To soften that side that wants life to be worked out mentally, that wants to control. Yet again and again realizing there is no way to live life through the mind.

May I stay low as the water while experiencing parts, emotions that I have denied. While riding their waves as they come and go. I believe that is why some of us are afraid of the water element. It brings to the surface exactly what has been hidden. It is transparent, yet ever changing. Same with our emotional world. Am I attaching when they pass through my body?

I remember those nights of the years I had spent in South America, underneath the stars, above the clouds. She is in charge. Mother Nature. The rain, the cold, the heat. Yet how I am holding the conversation is up to me. How I am facing the silence, is my own invitation. Beautiful, yet scary at times. This travel companion that won't leave you alone. What a wonderful invitation there lies, to listen to those words that in the end create your script for the play you are walking through.

Like my ancestors and the indigenous I was invited to live with nature remembering being part of her. In humble gratitude for the seeds I had been given to share with the whole.

All these so called valleys, those pauses in my life solely reminders that I had walked astray. To strengthen my core. To replace my anchor in the now not somewhere far in the future, at a peak or even in another person.

Daring to start the conversation with whatever is in front of me.

Conflicts sharpen our gaze and train our individuality. This is the greatest lesson we had signed up for, and already while stepping into our families cannot be avoided. The most beautiful invitation to have, is by far the one that many times we tend to run away from. I did.

It is like turning sideways into the light. Like Arjuna on the battlefield when he is not sure whether he can face all his negative attributes that keep him lost and stuck on the material plane. And slowly step by step coming back to my roots and the themes I came to overcome. Everything at its own timing. Seeing my initial home with wider eyes; the same with the mountain. He is not there to be feared or conquered, he just invites to look at the world from a different perspective. From this place of stillness and omniscience.

May I honor each mountain that lies ahead and may I listen to the invitation he is whispering.

May I incorporate his traits to find true comfort in the not knowing. Life always invites us over and over again to come back to the Earth and allow our desires and fears to dissipate. To find humor while again tapping into its trap. Our restlessness, of achieveing and overdoing, of wanting to be seen and heard, to be told our worth and value. To satisfy our needs and nourish our longings. Only though experiencing the polarities we get to know the full spectrum. Its a colourful wave that we undergo and each of is invited to use them in a creative way. Whether we dance, we sing, we paint or we garden. So many ways there are to allow this life force to flow again that has become stagnant. To provide an elixir as a service for the whole.

There is a wonderful lesson within each day and the more we allow the currents of life to take us without resisting its direction, the more harmony we bring into the world and our daily lives. Decrease is always a time to evaluate and go inwards in order to expand again whereas increase is where the harvest of those seeds planted earlier is becoming visible. What season are we moving through as a human family right now? We stand in awe with the rhythms of nature and the universe that we are invited to participate, but we were never meant to try to control the outer events that happen to each of us. Once we do we create suffer, through our desires and expectations. Through hiding and protecting our hearts. May we honor what the path provides even if we do not yet understand its wisdom.

Back in the valley at our friend's place.

In the end whatever we project onto the mountain that we are facing in this time of our lives, may we remember to walk the journey with deep gratitude and curiosity to be able to have these experiences, knowing the strength of the mountain derives through its stillness. May all obstacles along the way be received with gratitude and seen as treasures to reconnect us back to our hearts. May we move through mountains and valleys as the moon wanes and waxes. Non attached to one state or the other.