Submission

"Mountains are cathedrals: grand and pure, the houses of my religion. I go to them as humans go to worship. From their lofty summits I view my past, dream of the future, and with unusual acuity I am allowed to experience the present moment. My strength renewed, my vision cleared, in the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn" -Anatoli Boukreev

Once again I find myself searching for breath in the Himalaya. As I move in slow motion up the yak trail, a giant steppe eagle soars effortlessly above. I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered a bird so majestic.For nearly a year and a half, I’ve been crippled by persistent, racing negative thoughts. I’ve felt overwhelmed; pulled in too many directions by the demands and responsibilities of my life. One label I now have for this paradigm is bipolar disorder. So instead of trying to push through it (which most recently landed me in the hospital), or distracting myself while treading water, today, I submit to the highest power I can easily find: Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth, better known as Everest.And so the practice begins. I am here. I am at peace. I am alive.

“When you get in the ocean, you can’t make anything happen...When you enter the ocean you submit to what IT’s doing.” -Rob Bell