By Angie Martell
Mountains have always been powerful and sacred places, and, like everything else in life, they are alive and have spirit. Many years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity of going to Alaska and seeing the highest mountain in North America, Denali. Denali made such an impression upon me, that in my mediation practice, I have adopted Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mountain meditation.
In meditation, I often imagine myself sitting on the bottom of Denali also known as “the great one” and feeling her great spirit. So, when I feel out of balance and need to connect with my inner peace and light, I imagine I am the mountain, strong, majestic, still, and grounded as I experience the changes in each moment, as the seasons of time flow pass me. I try to picture the unwavering stillness of the mountain and the groundedness of the mountain. I try to exemplify these qualities as I face the constant changes in my life that may bring moments of both utter peace and joy or moments of chaos where the storms that approach in my life may bring periods of darkness and pain.
I use the image of the mountain both in my life and in my legal practice to find my own strength and stability for myself and my clients and use this energy to bring back my focus to each moment so that I can learn to not take it all personally and be mindful of what is happening around me and face it with equanimity and clarity. I may not always succeed but I try.
“No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it”
Our lives are filled with moments of absolute uncertainty. There are moments where we feel that we are on a roller coaster being pelted by a barrage of negativity. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions and the storms and crises that we face are like the weather on the mountain, and yet, we like the mountain have a vast ability to endure.
It is at this time during these storms and crises when we must seek the stillness the mountain exudes and look within ourselves to establish new paradigms of thought, especially if what we are doing before, isn't or wasn't working. We need to ask how much of what we are generating is ego driven? We need to ask ourselves what vision are we feeding? We need to ask how do we heal ourselves?
Healing is about breaking through the fear associated with life – fears we don't want to face – and finding our own special inspiration, a vision of the future, that we know we are here to create.
Many legal issues arise from discord between two or more individuals over an inability to problem-solve an issue. As an attorney, I believe the new paradigm of thought for the legal profession is moving away from the self-serving methods of creating conflict, and obscuring truth in order to win, into its true role of resolving conflict in the most “win-win” manner possible.
The power to rethink a situation is our greatest tool for transforming the world and ourselves.
If everyone channeled the energy that is created from our complaining about what is not working to positive thoughts and intentions, we would see lots of positive change in the world.
Our thoughts create the world we live in.
We need to change the heavy energy in our body to light energy.
We need to feed the vision of the world we want to live in.
We need to reduce the limiting and judgmental thoughts.
We need to release ourselves from toxicity in our thoughts, words, and relations
FINDING YOUR OWN PATH & THE VISION OF THE FUTURE
The mountain has also become a metaphor for finding your spiritual path. Climbing to the top of the mountain is finding your optimism and believing anything is possible and staying awake. Moving mountains means finding the ability to persevere even when the odds may be against you.
But know that you can’t be carried to the mountaintop nor can you carry others to the top for their weight will weigh you down and will deprive them of finding their own path and exploring their journey.
So as you see the mountain, climb and climb. Look for that foot hole. Find your way in darkness but know there is always light just beyond the horizon. Feel the gratitude of being alive and being the true visionary that sees light in darkness.
I ask you humbly to be a part of this adventure with me. Be like the mountain and let us work together with millions of others to put our vision for a healthy, beautiful, vibrant planet into action. Be the creator of the world you want to live in. We came here to have the experience of being a spirit in human form, manifesting beauty with each step and breath we take, and to ultimate realize that all that we need is in ourselves.
Angie Martell is an attorney, mediator, Shaman Practitioner, and Reiki Master with the law firm Iglesia Martell in Ann Arbor. She has a general practice that specializes in holistic law, divorce and family law, mediation, criminal defense, estate planning and elder law, LGBT issues, business law, and employee rights.
