The Mountain Is You

THE WAY YOU ARE SELF-SABOTAGING:
 Ascribing intent or 
worrying that things are about you when they aren’t.
WHAT YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND MIGHT WANT YOU TO 
KNOW:
 You think about yourself too often. Other people’s 
lives do not revolve around you, nor do their thoughts. 
They are busy thinking about themselves in the same way 
that you are thinking about yourself. Remember that pat-
terns in your life are indicative of your own behaviors, but 
imagining that every time someone cuts you off in traffic 
is a personal attack, you’re going to severely hold yourself 
back, because you’ll always be the victim of something. 
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 your-
self, 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 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 your-
self 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. Howev-
er, 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 signifi-
cant amount of research that proves the interconnected-
ness of our brains and bodies—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 feel-
ings.” 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, assum-
ing 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 pres-
ent, 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 
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 feel-
ings 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 natural-
ly gravitate toward or away from is your instinct. It’s not 
something you feel or interpret; it’s something you natu-
rally 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.