The Cry of the Mountain

The Cry of the Mountain

I woke up and I was giddy with excitement and euphoria. I knew what it was I wanted to do! But then I looked at how difficult it would be to begin, I saw the mountain towering above me, and as I gazed toward its lofty summit, I knew that it would be impossible to reach it. "Madness!" I thought, "Utter madness to even think I could do it." I started to turn away and as soon as did, I began to feel a sense of relief wash over me as the mountain slowly faded from my sight, and with it, my dream, like the leaves of autumn, falling slowly around my feet to be lost, and reborn in another time and another life.

In that moment of turning, through the waves of relief that washed over me, I sensed something else. I caught the sound of faint cries carried on the wind. I paused to listen because my instinct told me that someone was in great distress, someone was out there, floundering and lost, and if I could do it, then I was going to help them. The cries were coming from behind me, from the very place on which I had just turned my back. I felt a compulsion to keep going, to ignore this cry for help, but I could not. I had to turn around and to see what I could do.

The act of turning would not come and I stood, frozen in space and time, as the last cry echoed and died away around me. I knew that if I did turn, towering high above me and bearing witness to my cowardice, would be the mountain that I knew not how to climb. I was caught in hesitation between that which scared me and the cries for help, and the compulsion to keep going, with my back at the mountain, and to ignore everything and to pretend it had never happened, that I had not heard the voice.  The cry came again only this time, although it was fainter, I could discern its urgency and dire need.  

I cannot explain why I did what I did.  I've looked back upon this moment in the times since and I am still unable to say what happened.  I recall taking a step away from the mountain only to stumble at taking a second.  It felt as though the entire universe was watching me at that very moment, I could feel the weight of its gravity pushing down with such crushing force, piercing my soul with its gaze.  For an instant I stopped.  There had been no further cry for help and perhaps it was this that gave me pause.  All I know is that pause I did and it felt like the universe held its breath in unison. I moved again, only it was not to take a step forwards as I had been expecting, it was to turn myself about, to look upon the lofty peak of that impenetrable mountain once more.  

I waited and listened for the cry, my eyes searched the trees, scanned the lower levels of the mountain, looking for anything that would give me a clue as to the location of the helpless victim. I saw no one, I heard no one.  I walked forward a few paces altering the angle at which I was looking into the trees, hoping that perhaps I would see some colour that would indicate an item of clothing.  Nothing.  I stepped forward a little more, scanning the mountain ridges, looking at the gullys, fixing my eyes on the trees. Still there was no one.  I decided that I would give it up, that I had perhaps heard the cries of an eagle or some other bird of prey on the wind, on the hunt.  I looked once more time and then I saw it.

There, in among the darkness of the trees was an opening I had not seen before.  Could it be the way through?  I tried my best to guess the direction it would take through the forest and I lifted my eyes up to scan the lower slopes of the mountain. There!  Could it be?  It was almost too good to be true.  What looked like a trail, barely visible, wound its way up the mountainside for some distance before disappearing.  I could not have seen it from where I had been standing before.  It only became clear once I had taken a few steps toward the mountain.  

I began to walk forwards.  I do not recall being aware of this until suddenly, looming up before me stood the trunks of the ancient and mighty trees in the forest.  Now I stopped once more, not in hesitation but so I could remember this moment.  I turned and looked back from whence I had come and I saw that already I had travelled some distance along the path.  Perhaps it would become harder now.  I tightened my pack, took a deep breath and plunged forwards into the forest, into the unknown, taking one step then another along the path.  

It was then I heard the laughter all around, coming from everywhere all at once and I knew that the laughter was from the same person who had cries out in distress before.  I smiled and then I too laughed and I laughed with great and profound joy.  There had never been anyone else.  The cries, just as with the laughter had come from within myself.  My heart had spoken, my heart had known the suffering that would have occurred had I walked away from the mountain, and it had known that my dream would have been lost, perhaps forever.  Now, it was full of joy because at long last we were together making the journey, our journey.  We were on the path towards our dreams.  Perhaps we would never reach the top of the mountain.  Perhaps the trail would stop part way up.  But at least now I was going to find out.  I would discover all there was and I might find out more than I could ever have realised.  This was an adventure.  Together, my heart and I, we were on the path.  We were on our true path, and now the possibilities were endless.

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You Must Never Give Up

Some days, it is difficult to keep going.  It feels as if no matter what you do or how hard you try, you cannot seem to make progress.  Each time you attempt to take a step forward, you feel as though you actually move backwards, becoming ever further from your goal, more distant from achieving your dreams.  You question why you continue to work so hard and push for you heart's desire.  In this moment, you feel alone and isolated.  The voice in your head tells you that you were foolish for daring to believe, that it is futile to continue.  It urges you to put away your childish thoughts and live out your life the easy way, the normal way, just like everyone else does.  And in this moment, you see that it would in fact be easier to give up the fight.  At least you tried, at least you began the journey, which, you tell yourself is more than most people accomplish in their lifetime.  A pivotal moment has arrived and the direction of your life is just about to be decided.

Do you recognise these feelings?  I know that I do.  I lived through them myself.  In fact, I've lived through them many times as I've walked my own one true path, and I know, that I will face them time and again, as my journey continues.  Every single one of us, who dares to reach out for what we believe in, is going to come across exactly this same situation.  A moment of doubt, a moment where our faith deserts us, when our heart ceases to speak its words of encouragement.  In these moments, we stand alone.  No one else can help us.  You can find people who will offer you their words of encouragement, they'll hear what you say, and they will sympathise with your sufferings.  Be careful though, through trying to help you to feel better, you may find that some people offer words to discourage you from continuing, believing that they are actually helping you to avoid what they perceive as the inevitable bitter taste of defeat that will be yours, if you continue to try to pursue you dreams.  But no matter who you talk with, no matter what advice is given, the decision whether to stop, or whether to continue with the fight for your dreams is yours, and it is yours alone to make.

So, the voice in your head urges you to give up on your dreams because they are unachievable and they are just that, dreams.  Have you ever been in the middle of a dream that you did not wish to end, but were abruptly pulled away from it from it by the ringing of your alarm clock?  Can you remember how much you wanted to close your eyes and reenter that dream, to immerse yourself in it, and to live it over again?  The dreams that live inside of our hearts are no different.  Those are the dreams that we seek to create in the reality of our daily lives.  I think it is important that you know that these dreams really can, and do, come true.

I count myself very fortunate to be able to be living one of my own dreams.  I only say this to illustrate one very important point: If I was able to manifest my dream in my own reality, then so too can you.  I am no different to you.  I suffer and continue to suffer just as you, and I will go on suffering until I draw my final breath, and the symphony of my heart beats its final note.  I come from humble beginnings, I am not privileged in any way, I am just an ordinary person.  You could pass me by in the street or sit next to me in a cafe, and you would never know that there was anything special about me, because there is not.  On the outside at least, I am a normal person.  It is what beats on the inside that makes the difference.  Those of us who believe in our dreams, are those of us who follow our heart's, who walk in rhythm to their beat, and who never give up.

I had a dream and in that dream I lived by an ocean, under the heat of the tropical sun, and I walked bare foot along the sand of a beach that was lined with palm trees.  I was told that this dream was foolish and stupid, that it was silly and immature, that I could not make a living from what I wanted in life.  I chose not to accept that.  I chose to pursue all possibilities until I found one that would work for me.  I did not give up.  I held that dream in my heart and everything that I ever did in life since it's initial inception, was to bring that dream to fruition.  I may not have always been conscious of it, but that dream lived in my heart and it drove every decision that I ever made.

You too can succeed.  You too can turn your dream into a living reality.  Your dream can become your life.  Believe it.  Never give up on it.  Keep working, keep on striving for what it is that you believe.  Keep pushing against the barriers and the set backs that you encounter along the way.  You can overcome them.  You can defeat them.  Sometimes the solution is not the most obvious one, sometimes you need to give yourself more time, so be patient.  If your dream is truly your heart's desire, then you will never lose it.  It is always going to be there, and you will be reminded of it, every time that your heart hits a beat.  You can achieve your dreams.  Always remember that and make it the truth of your life.  Your one true path is out there, it awaits you.  All you have to do is to keep on fighting and to never give up.

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