Mount Shasta: Hide and Seek with my Beloved

This morning, as always, when I woke up, I walked over the living room window to greet my beloved Mount Shasta.  For the first time in a quite a while, she was hiding behind clouds.   I felt disappointed not to see her.  

Then, I took a moment to drop in deeper and noticed that I could still feel her presence as strongly as if she were visible in her full glory.

For me, Mount Shasta represents and reflects my own Self.  When she plays hide-and-seek, she reminds me that I AM always present, no matter what clouds are moving through.

When a flood of thoughts is coming up, it’s still easy for me to forget what’s real.  But, it just takes an instant to reconnect with the stillness behind the thoughts.

One simple way to do this is to ask “Who’s aware of these thoughts?”  The important thing, when asking a question like this, is not to settle for a conceptual answer in the mind, but to shift focus to the heart and let the answer be revealed there.

Another simple way to recollect myself is to notice the gaps between thoughts.  Each gap, as tiny as it might be, is a window into the Self.

It’s trickier when there’s a torrent of emotions coming up along with thoughts.  Perhaps this can be compared to a big storm obscuring the mountain.  A storm can be quite dramatic and absorb attention.

Still, all it truly takes is a moment of remembering what’s still present in the midst of the emotional storm.

A key step for me to finding the eye/I in the emotional storm is bringing awareness to my body and noticing where the storm is centered.  Often, the storm dissipates quickly when I bring relaxed awareness to it.  

Once again, I’m in the presence of my beloved.

Just now, I see the mountain peeking out from behind the clouds.

Thank you Mount Shasta for being such a beautiful reflection of the beloved which lives in my heart.

Andrew Oser has been offering spiritual life coaching, along with guided retreats on Mount Shasta since 1982.   Through hikes to little-known sacred sites, guided meditations, spiritual life coaching, and time drinking in the silence of the mountain, he helps clients to deeply renew themselves in body, mind, and spirit and receive clear vision for their lives.  www.mountshastaretreat.net