Into the mountains .... Day 316

I came back last night from my first "long" hike of the year a changed woman.  I say "long" in quotes because for people like me.. who came of age a midst rolling farm fields nestled in a valley.. long to me had meant  anything with slight elevation gain and/or doesn't meander along a stream.  I think to more seasoned mountain folk what I did yesterday is an easy hike.  Here, where you can step out your car and head a half mile almost straight up from the road...the bar is set a bit higher.   When I came here I thought I was a "hiker", now I realize I was a rambler :)

I'm also a peeper (and I married another peeper) which means even though when I'm itching to come back home in a timely manner to get my fiber art on our hikes still take longer than the average person.  Probably about what it'd take to hike with toddlers.  Yesterday almost six hours. hehehe

The boys...peeping

So, how did I become a changed woman?  I tried something new on this hike.  I repeated a mantra.  In case you don't know what  mantra is... it's something you repeat in an effort to gently quiet and focus your mind.  I love them... for someone like me with a busy, textbook ADD type mind, the process can be very freeing and sometimes the only way to break a pattern if I'm fixating on something that feels really negative or a downer.  It puts the happy face back on!  So, inspired by the yoga class I did in the morning as I was hiking I repeated.. I am a warrior, my body is light as a feather, sometimes I am soft, sometimes I am strong.

Dog's eye view...

Since I am a transplant where I'm living now sometimes I find myself overwhelmed.  Like a plant it can be hard to stretch my leaves towards the sun to grow and change, easy to be withered by the slightest external shift in atmosphere, and challenging to sink strong roots in the earth.

Despite that... I came back from that mountain a changed woman with a fresh perspective.  It's not those external things that define who I am or how I react.  I learned through repeating that mantra as I hiked I was no longer too slow, not good enough, too loud, too fast, not enjoying it enough, not athletic enough, not a good companion, too unhealthy, or any of those endless pesky limiting things I somehow end up telling myself whenever I'm trying anything challenging.  Yes, those things were there, yes, I was allowing them to be there because if I tried to force them out they'd just sound louder.  But, the difference this time was I had no attachment to them...  I just simply did not identify with them.  Why and how?  Because for almost two hours as I climbed uphill whenever I remembered to repeat it I was a warrior, I was light as a feather, I was soft, and I was strong! And even though it felt funny and wierd at first once I reached the top and looked out at the vast wilderness before me..  I think I believed it :)

Even had time to do some creating after...  This belt pouch will be up in the shop on Friday!