One of the best things about spending more time in Washington is that these beautiful mountains and trails are literally in our backyard. For example a quick 1 hour drive and I’m deep in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

This past Sunday was spent hiking up to Goat Lake. Let me tell you… it was GORGEOUS.

As I made my way through the trail I decided to head up to Goat Lake via the lower trail and come back down to the trail head via the upper trail. The pounding pulsation of the river and numerous waterfalls making it’s way down the mountain was incredible.

The hike was approximately 11 miles round trip, and it was 11 miles of fresh air that I desperately needed.

The night before I got into a sneezing frenzy due to allergies which always zaps the energy out of me; to the point where my throat is sore and my energy is just depleted from me. When I woke up the day of the hike my nose was so stuffed I couldn’t breathe!

Miraculously when we got to the mountains it was as if the body knew how good the air was and decided to clear the nasal passages for all the fresh air. As soon as this happened I started to breathe DEEP. Deep into the belly with each and every inhale and I could slowly feel my energy coming back.

I don’t know if it was the allergy attack the night before but not only was my energy low, my mood just wasn’t as upbeat either. Honestly, it could have been a whole RANGE of things:

• Was it hormonal? Time of the month?
• Has weeks of stressful work hours impacted the adrenals and thus neurotransmitters?
• Was it the tossing and turning from being unable to breathe last night?
• Maybe it’s the days of overcast skies that finally got to me.
• Did I not eat enough breakfast and this is just a dip in energy?
• Am I putting too much pressure on myself at work?
• Is it because the weekend is almost over and I didn’t get a chance to eat at my favorite Indian restaurant this week? 😉

I’ve written about this before but it’s so easy to want to place meaning behind everything. Our minds find it inherently necessary to analyze the who, what, why, when, and how, but sometimes that takes us down several chases down several rabbit holes!

Instead I took some time to mindfully investigate each and every thought that came up and most importantly to allow and to BE WITH the emotion behind every passing thought. Fear, sadness, anxiousness, stress… were a few of the emotions that arose with each thought.

I took time to ask, is this really true? And if it is, what would that mean? Who is the one having this thought? What am I reacting to (or what do I think I am reacting to)?

Then silence. Step by step, breath by breath.

And when you’re surrounded by beauty like this how can you not begin to feel shifts as you fall into the wonder, awe, and gratitude of mother nature?

Sometimes it takes a good long bit of time to realize reality from reaction, or a place like this to put you in the present moment. The true present, moment by moment, breath by breath.

How about you? When do you find yourself having ah-ha moments? What helps you bring your awareness to your thoughts?

Cheers to a beautiful start to your week.

Namaste.