The World Underneath

“We co-create our reality with others in unseen ways.”(Doug Dillon) Mountainous Perspective I’m a fan of mountains. I don’t love them quite as much as I love the ocean, but they do take my breath away.

I’m told that I have not even seen real mountains yet, as my perspective is so far limited to the Appalachians, which are fairly small as compared to the Rockies, the Karakoram, the Alps, the Himalayas, the Andes, etc. To be fair though, bigger is not always better, as evidenced by the incredible, flavor bursting Maryland Blue Crab compared to a big, watery Alaskan King Crab. (Fight me.)

More Than Meets the Eye As I understand it, one thing is universally true about all mountains: Whatever you can see above ground is minuscule as compared to the rest of the mountain that extends deep down under the surface. We are pretty much just looking at their foreheads and hair.

But wow! What a head of hair!!

Grounding As I write this I’m getting ready to take a few days as a working getaway to West Virginia. There is something sort of amazing to me about being on a mountain, kicking my toes around in that “hair.” The smell of the trees and creeks have the ability to settle me in a most profound way.

I’m coming to understand that it’s not the part of the mountain I can see and feel that does this for me: It’s the enormous rest of the mountain underneath.

And so it is with the humans.

Imagine for a moment that you are the mountain. The part that’s seen is the “forehead and hair.” We think this is us, just like many of us think the mountain is only the part that’s seen. In truth, the rest of who we are - our thoughts, experiences, purposefulness, creativity, potential, history, stored inter-generational history — We are so much deeper than what’s seen in the mirror or walking around in front of us!

That’s Good News Mountains show up in literature, sacred Scriptures, poems and metaphors all the time. They seem so solid and immovable. They “see” centuries and epochs come and go, and yet they remain.

They do that because while the upper part is subject to erosion, tectonic shifts, and even strip mining, all of that is really just a haircut.

How many haircuts have you had in your time? Did they change who you fundamentally are? They may well have totally changed the way people see you, but did they change you? Or merely express you differently for that period of time?

Baddazz Resiliency Have you ever been through something and wondered how you managed it? Have you ever “dug down deep” in yourself and found resources and endurance you didn’t know you had?

That’s because you, friend, like a mountain, have so much more beneath the surface than what’s apparent in top. “Above ground” we are subject to all kinds of winds of change. Our existential beliefs about the way things work, our perspective from time, our lives experiences get shaped and reshaped, formed and reformed throughout our lifetimes. The forehead and hair present differently in different times. Don’t confuse that top 10% with the whole of who you are, (or who any other human is!)

Whatever is True I’ve long committed to not fearing whatever is true. This knowledge, this “grounded” understanding that there is so much more to us is the thing that gives me the confidence to do that.

When we pretend that we are nothing but “forehead and hair” we can get rigid and emotionally brittle trying to keep it all in tact in a way that’s familiar. (Think: Combover!) We miss so much of what could be, clinging to what we think we want to be!

A Challenge The next time you find yourself fearing the future, hating some change you never asked for, or grieving, I want to challenge you to do something just slightly “woo woo.”

Go outside where there is either some grass or rocks and take your shoes off. Stand on that surface and ground your feet. Close your eyes and let yourself picture the foundational and sub-foundational earth beneath your toes, arches, heels. Recognize the parallel foundation and sub foundation in your own being.

Whatever the “this” is? You’ve GOT this! ....................................................................................................................................................................................... If you’d like help finding the rest of your mountain beneath, where your resiliency resides,

contact Tiffany today. Let’s figure it out together.