View From the Top

False Summits

You’re almost there, just a few more steps and you’ll reach the end of the journey, the summit.  The Pinnacle Peak, representing all: the obstacles overcome, the backslides down, the steady ascents, the steep inclines, and those ‘rest stops’ where you had contemplated giving up only to keep pushing onward.  What do you think happens when you reach “the Top’: all you desired will be fulfilled, you’ll be fully satisfied and content, basking in your glory and wanting for nothing else?  Perhaps you’re cautious about wanting too much, for true happiness comes from within…right, and wanting for more, merely tarnishes your appreciation of what is?

In yoga we are taught about Santosha, a Sanskrit word that represents the idea of true contentment.  Being completely full, satisfied and whole with what is.  I’ve experienced santosha many times: (usually expressed in tears and giggles), when light broke through the clouds on a snowy day over the reservoir, in my back field surrounded by the aroma of the wild rose’s while feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin, or even after a long day of physical activity, snuggled under the blankets with my dog Padawan happily curled into a ball behind my legs.  If there is such pleasure to be found in the here and now, (through awareness and appreciation of the glorious world around us) would wanting more almost seem ungrateful?  What more would one possibly need, and what is behind this wanting?

“One never stops climbing, Julie, unless he wants to stop and vegetate. There’s always something just ahead.”
― Irene Hunt

Listen, if you feel guilty about wanting more, stop right now, it is in our nature to want more: more experiences, more happiness, more ways to express ourselves, JUST MORE.  We are creative beings, meaning that we cannot help but think of ways to express that creativity. We are part of the universe, literally made of stardust, the universe is expanding, and that expansive energy is within us needing to be released. There is no final destination, there is no ultimate summit, for once you reach that peak another will be seen that you weren’t aware of before.

How then, do you marry contentment of ‘what is’ with the universal pull of expansion?  Well, if you accept the fact that there is no ultimate achievement, that whatever happiness you’ve attached to what has yet to come will only be temporary, it may then cause you to focus on the now.  To find those sweet moments of pure awareness and appreciation in the small miracles of this world.  Knowing also that your universal purpose is to grow, create and express yourself, you will then be able to embrace your position on being on the leading edge of the creative.  This concept of loving what is, while also answering the call for more is what I like to call Creative Contentment.  It is the act of creating, building, expanding and expressing your true self through the work, actions, interactions and play in the here and now where contentment is found. It is the climbing of mountains for the joy of climbing, excited about the views, knowing that even more peaks will be on the horizon.

“Feel yourself climbing the mountain.”
― A.D. Posey