At the beginning of this year, I read the book The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest. I am often hesitant towards self help and healing books because they always seem to miss the mark for me. I lean into the belief that they tend to feed you bullshit and offer band-aids for deeper problems. I’ll admit, this is a pretty narrow-minded perspective going into this genre of books, but at the time I read this book, I had an open mind.
I removed my expectations and I just absorbed the words. Not everything resonated with me, but I didn’t expect it too and I don’t think that the author expects it to either. I picked out a few moments that really spoke to me and wrote down notes to refer to later, but there was one particular exercise that really offered a breakthrough.
I have heard about talking to your younger self, your inner child and trying to heal that part of you. I’ve tried it, I’ve struggled with it, and I haven’t really broken through with that, but Wiest suggests tapping into your future self, and asking them what advice they can give you right now. This task is to relate to yourself in a few years and see the path in which you could progress to that higher version of yourself.
When I sat down and did this exercise, I chose to close my eyes and type it out. This is simply because I can type faster than I can write and I wanted to get my feelings and thoughts on paper as swiftly as my thoughts came to me. I really did physically close my eyes and felt consumed in the person I project to be in 5 years time.
I felt a sense of peace come over me, I allowed myself to give honest opinions of the areas of my life that had tension or unrest, and I was very optimistic in my ability to see a path from where I was to where I could be.
The funny thing through this, I wrote that only 8 months ago and I am almost already where I thought I was going to be, because I chose to listen to myself. I chose to listen to my own advice and beliefs and trust my gut. In January, I was at a place where I was craving peace and I was willing to do anything to get there. So, I listened to myself, I made changes, I set goals, and I put in work and I am now the most peaceful I have ever consistently been in my life, I am the most open minded I have ever been in my life, and I am the most hopeful I have ever been in my life.
I would encourage you, if you are also struggling with any points of tension in your life, to sit down and try this exercise with an open mind. Be willing to listen to yourself. It may change everything for you, it may be the key to your worries.
I also want to end by saying, I do recommend the book, it is worth the read. I refer back to it often, and will probably reread it in the future. Here is a link to the book for purchase if you are interested. The exercise I am referring to is discussed in Chapter 6: Building a New Future.
