The Mountain Is You

STEP 4: IMAGINE THEM HANDING YOU THE “KEYS” TO YOUR

---

NEW LIFE
Another powerful exercise using your future self is to imagine yourself now
sitting down with yourself 3, 5, or even 7 years ago. It has to be close
enough that you can relate to this person but far enough that you’ve
changed.
Imagine sitting down in a space you used to frequent or inhabit. What
you’re going to do now is hand them the pieces of your current life and all
of the information they will need to go from who they are then to who you
are now.
You can hand them your car keys, your email account for your job, your
bank account, an outfit, or instructions on what to do in terms of career,
relationships, or just day-today habits.
Or you can imagine your future self giving you aspects of your life now.
Imagine them handing you the keys to the home you live in, or your
wedding band, or anything else that is a part of your highest possible future
life.
Remember, this process should make you feel calm, affirmed, and more
self-assured, not the opposite. Fear is
178
BRIANNA WIEST
THE MOUNTAIN IS YOU
179
a hallucination, a trick of the mind and gut. Your future self can step in and
remind you of all that is possible and empower you to live with certainty,
clarity, and grace.
R E L E A S I N G Y O U R PA S T I N T O

---

T H E Q U A N T U M F I E L D
When something happens that scares you and then you do not ever get over
that fear, you become traumatized.
Trauma is the experience of disconnecting with a fundamental source of
safety. It happens most severely when our attachment to our primary
caretakers is compromised.
But there is truly an infinite number of ways the world can traumatize you,
and to varying degrees.
There are lots of theories about what trauma is and where it comes from.
Some believe that it is passed down physically through DNA.16 Others
argue that it is shared mentally and emotionally through learned patterns
and observations. Most commonly, trauma is believed to be an interpersonal
experience we have in which we were challenged and then lacked the skills
and coping mechanisms to rise to it.
No matter where it came from, if you have some kind of lingering trauma,
you will know, because you will feel it. You will feel it physically in your
body. You will feel anxiety, tension, fear, terror, sadness, or guilt. It will be
180
BRIANNA WIEST
THE MOUNTAIN IS YOU
181
displaced. It will not have a clear, direct cause. You will overreact to certain
things and even when a problem is solved, you will still panic. This is the
mark of trauma.