The Mountain Is You

THE WAY YOU ARE SELF-SABOTAGING: Staying in a city or town
you claim to dislike.
WHAT YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND MIGHT WANT YOU TO
KNOW: Home is where you make it, not where you find it. Is this an issue
of you being unable to move, or are you simply unwilling? Usually when
we stay in the same place, there’s a reason. There’s something we love
about it, and it’s where want to spend our lives. The resistance comes in
because of the judgment we imagine others may think if they know we
don’t live in the coolest, biggest, or the
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best area. You might also fear that people will judge you for not having
“progressed” enough. The truth is that you are judging yourself, and you
need to make peace or take pride in why you choose to live where you do.
THE WAY YOU ARE SELF-SABOTAGING: Mindlessly scroll-ing
through social media as a way to pass the time.
WHAT YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND MIGHT WANT YOU
TO KNOW: This is one of the easiest ways to numb yourself, because it is
so accessible and addictive. There is a world-altering difference between
using social media in a healthy way versus as a coping mechanism. Mostly,
it has to do with how you feel after you’re finished. If you don’t put the

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phone down feeling inspired or relaxed, you’re probably trying to avoid
some kind of discomfort within yourself—the very discomfort that just
might be telling you that you need to change.
L E A R N I N G T O L I S T E N A G A I N
Now that you’re starting to pay attention to your internal cues, it is
important to understand how to listen to yourself and respond in real time.
You are in the situation you are in now because you did not know how to
understand or meet your needs in the moment. If you do not want to
constantly have to be “fix-ing” your choices and behaviors, you have to
learn how to
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process and interpret your feelings in real time. This will be done by a
process of building emotional intelligence, which will be primarily done in
the next chapter. However, this is where we begin: by understanding how to
listen to our instincts.
H O W T O F O L L O W Y O U R “ G U T ” W I T H O U T
G E T T I N G S C A R E D O F T H E F U T U R E
One of the most essential tenets of modern wisdom is the idea that deep
down, you know the truth about everything in your life and, by extension,
your future. The idea is that you are an oracle unto yourself, and your
feelings are ap-ertures into not only what’s happening now, but what’s
going to happen soon.
We’re not to blame for believing this. There’s a significant amount of
research that proves the interconnected-ness of our brains and bodies—

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explaining why when we have a “gut feeling” or an instinct that precedes
logic, it is often correct.
This is because the lining of our gastrointestinal system functions as a
“second brain,” given how it stores a backlog of information that your
conscious mind can’t recall faster than your body can sense. It is this
incredible skill that makes your instinct almost always correct.
Your gut—though intelligent—isn’t psychic.
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If you want to tune into yourself more, follow your heart, pursue your
passion, find your soul—whatever it is—the first thing that you have to
understand is that your “gut instinct” can only respond to what’s happening
in the present. If you have an “instinct” about a future event, you’re
projecting.
This is how you can start breaking down your “gut feelings.” Are you
responding to someone who is in front of you, or are you responding to
your idea of them in your head? Are you reacting to a situation that’s
playing out right now, or are you reacting to one you imagine, assuming
you know how it will go? Are your feelings regarding what’s happening
right now or what you hope and fear will happen in the future?
Aside from only really being able to function in the present, your gut
instinct is also quiet. The “little voice” within is just that… little.
It does not scream. It does not panic. It does not pump your body with
adrenaline to get your attention. It is not angry. It is the wave of clarity that
overcomes you in the middle of your darkest moments, in which something

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tells you: It’s going to be all right; it’s not as bad as you think, everything is
okay.
Your gut instinct functions to make things better, whereas your imagination
can often make things worse.
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But this is often confusing to people, because which feelings are your
instincts, and what are your fears, or doubts, or limiting beliefs? How do we
know the difference?
Well, your instincts aren’t actually feelings; they are responses.
If you find yourself particularly drained after spending time with someone
or are feeling like you don’t want to see them again, that’s your instinct. If
the work that you do exhausts you and every bit of it is forced and unde-
sirable, that is your instinct. Instinct is not a feeling (you don’t have an
“instinct” that you’re sad today); instinct is quickly moving yourself out of
harm’s way without having to think about it.
You have to remember that your feelings, while valid, are not often real.
They are not always accurate reflections of reality. They are, however,
always accurate reflections of our thoughts. Our thoughts change our
feelings. Our thoughts do not change our instincts. What you naturally
gravitate toward or away from is your instinct. It’s not something you feel
or interpret; it’s something you naturally do.
When people talk about using their instincts to craft a life they love, this is
what they mean: that they are obey-ing what their subtle intuition tells them
they feel best doing. Sometimes, your instinct can move you toward your
art, even if it makes you uncomfortable and resistant.

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Sometimes, your instinct can move you to keep working on a relationship,
even when it’s hard.
Your instinct doesn’t exist to ensure you feel comfortable and ecstatic at all
hours of the day. It moves you toward what you’re meant to do, because it
shows you where your interests, skills, and desires intersect.