As I finally crested the high-line of the sure-to-be summit that I had been sweating, stumbling, and swearing to get to for the last six hours, I was overcome with joy and... disappointment and hatred.
It wasn't the summit. This had happened four times already on the ascent. I cursed mightily and my feet felt a new level of pain.
The funny thing is: nothing changed throughout that whole sequence of events except my attitude. Yet, that simple change manipulated my drive to continue the summit bid, the pain in my feet, and the amount of cursing I did.
It wasn't the summit. This had happened four times already on the ascent. I cursed mightily and my feet felt a new level of pain.
The funny thing is: nothing changed throughout that whole sequence of events except my attitude. Yet, that simple change manipulated my drive to continue the summit bid, the pain in my feet, and the amount of cursing I did.
This scenario has repeated itself many times over the years - in the Shenandoah Mountains, the Brooks Range, the Alaska Range, the Tetons, the Wind River Range, even on Panama's Volcan Baru. Often, it is my friends who feel the pain, as through the years I have begun to swallow my pride and rely on Mountaineering's most underutilized rule:
It's the journey - not the summit - that matters.
In peak bagging, as in life, you must learn to take every step with joy in your heart - or don't bother to take it at all.
It's the journey - not the summit - that matters.
In peak bagging, as in life, you must learn to take every step with joy in your heart - or don't bother to take it at all.
Once you give up all hopes for the summit and enjoy the ride, the will to continue becomes natural and the pain in your feet goes away. You don't live for the hopes that the false summit a mile ahead is the real summit - you just live.
Here's the easiest way to understand what I mean: take your favorite podcast or audiobook with you on your next mountain hike, and listen while hiking. Get totally into it and your footfalls on the trail - nothing else. Head for the summit, but don't plan on actually getting there or think about it obsessively. Eventually, you may find that you're not focusing singularly on the task of getting to the top - instead you are quite enjoying the program you are listening to and the feeling of moving around in a beautiful place. You may even want the summit to be further away... to continue the hike because you are enjoying yourself so much.
Eventually, with a bit of training, you will be able to transform this into Meditation in Motion - literally a form of meditating while you are hiking, enjoying every step along the way.
Here's the easiest way to understand what I mean: take your favorite podcast or audiobook with you on your next mountain hike, and listen while hiking. Get totally into it and your footfalls on the trail - nothing else. Head for the summit, but don't plan on actually getting there or think about it obsessively. Eventually, you may find that you're not focusing singularly on the task of getting to the top - instead you are quite enjoying the program you are listening to and the feeling of moving around in a beautiful place. You may even want the summit to be further away... to continue the hike because you are enjoying yourself so much.
Eventually, with a bit of training, you will be able to transform this into Meditation in Motion - literally a form of meditating while you are hiking, enjoying every step along the way.
If you are a photographer, one way to do this same thing is to hike a trail you have done before, but handicap yourself by carrying only a 100mm macro lens - the view at the top won't matter as much. Instead, relish the small things that the journey brings you. If you want to develop your skills even further, shoot only in B+W! Dang!
I hope you find how pleasurable it is to get lost in your mind with joy in your heart.
I hope you find how pleasurable it is to get lost in your mind with joy in your heart.
