Climbing The Emotion Mountain
Emotional Rock Climbing
Emotions are so much more complex and important than I ever thought. As I’ve gotten older, I have realized that emotions are essential to everyone’s experience. Unfortunately, most of us never learn how to properly accept emotions in our lives. I used to be one of these people; I spent a long time avoiding emotions. I got comfortable saying, “I don’t feel emotions,” because I was taught to label soft, vulnerable emotions as “The Emotions.”
There isn’t a single person on this planet who doesn’t feel emotions. Emotions are normal, scary, and complicated. My emotional inner world is scattered around, and my feelings don’t always fit neatly into a wheel.
Let’s pretend life is a mountain without a peak or base, and each emotion is a unique flower species.
We climb this mountain throughout our lives in search of its peak. Some people make summiting the mountain their primary focus, while others are too afraid of falling to even try climbing out of their comfort zone. People all have different reasons for climbing or staying in place, but one thing we all share is the emotional flowers we encounter along the way.
Emotional flowers are different species of plants that represent the emotions most present in any part of the mountain.
The emotional flowers grow in the environment that best suits their needs. Areas with lots of sunlight tend to have happier emotions, whereas the darker, shaded parts of the mountain tend to house the more complex emotions. Let’s dive into the different parts of the Mountain to see which emotions live where.
On Life Mountain, there is no defined bottom or top.
What Grows In The Shadows | Zone 3
Near Life Mountain’s lowest parts, the sun hides most of the time, making conditions cold, wet, and dark. This environment is known as the shadows, or zone three. Only plants that thrive in darkness live here in abundance in zone three. These zone three emotional species resemble the likeness of mushrooms and molds.
Dark-dwelling emotional plants feed off of the life and death surrounding them; They can be toxic to breathe or become fatal with too much exposure.
The people who live in Zone Three often suffer from the harmful effects of the emotions that surround them daily.
Fortunately, People are resilient, and despite the harmful effects of these dark plants, many people adapt to this environment. Adapting to their environment makes the people of Zone Three hardy and resilient, a helpful trait when climbing throughout the mountain. With enough exposure to harmful plants, you can build a tolerance that allows you to take advantage of the hidden benefits that all emotional plants have.
The Zone Three emotions like despair, grief, loneliness, and depression can be detrimental to an individual, but they can also help someone dive deep into themselves, discovering an inner beauty. Hope is created as others find use in these emotions, assisting others to feel like they can live around these plants and even use them to their benefit. These emotions are indeed challenging to deal with, but they can be exactly what we need at times to explore and strengthen ourselves to climb.
Indifferent Species | Zone 2
As you traverse the mountain from zone three, your days will brighten, warmth will frequently visit, and the moister will dry. Zone 2 is the in-between zone, where most people will spend their time. Zone Two is the halfway point that houses the conditions of both the upper and lower zones to allow the people here to choose. This zone, by far, has the most dynamic topography, with east-facing clearings, caverns to the west, and overhangs everywhere between. The light and the shadows live in Zone Two simultaneously, offering nuance to the emotions experienced here.
The plants that can grow in shade or sun tend to thrive in Zone Two, such as devil ivy and clovers. The emotional plants of Zone Two begin to assist in the lives of people who live here in the form of food, shelter, and medicine. Emotions such as curiosity, boredom, and eagerness grow in abundance to affect the inhabitants of Zone Two based on the actions of the individuals. Emotional plants that grow in shadows should force you down into negative zones, but depending on your intentional use, they can raise you up as easily. Whether or not a plant raises you up or down depends on your intentions and actions when encountering a particular emo-plant.
Because emotional plants can swing differently based on current circumstances, your choices will determine how a plant-like eagerness will lift or drop you. Zone Two results depend most on your actions, assisting you in whatever direction you’re already heading.
You may choose to live your life engaging with the plants of the caverns (e.g., anxiety/confusion), which will try to keep you within the cave’s dark walls as long as possible. Within the caverns, you will learn to live and even expect the emotional plants that thrive here, making you accustomed to the plants closest to those of Zone Three.
You can also climb higher up the mountain and spend a lot of time around the various overhangs that house the emo-plants of power, strength, and confidence. These plants can benefit an individual, but the overhangs can be dangerous and a quick way to fall down the mountain. These plants represent the emotions that, if misused, can provide significant benefits at a tremendous cost. The emo-plants of overhangs should be used in moderation.
The clearing’s plants grow tall and beautiful, as they would in Zone One. The clearings have direct sunlight for most of the day, and the plants here reflect that. (ex: joy, excitement, happiness).
The View | Zone 1
Species that need lots of light to be able to grow
Like the clearings of Zone Two, Zone One experiences uninterrupted sunlight and open space, and the moisture in Zone One nourishes the plants that grow abundantly, tall, and strong in these ideal conditions. The Emo-plants of Zone One are by far the most beneficial and sought-after emotions, i.e., love, peace, and contentment. Emo-plants of Zone One tend to grow like a rich forest that always gives back. The people here benefit from food, shelter, medicine, and adventures provided by the almost limitless giving abilities of the plants that grow here. Most people believe that Zone One is where they need to climb so they may live an easy life, free of the hardships of the lower levels. Many people climb up the mountain their entire lives in search of the Garden of Eden environment where all worries wash away in the sunlight. Zone One causes people to climb for accomplishment when Zone One can only exist in the stillness. There is no top of the mountain; Zone One doesn’t exist in the same way that Zones Three and Two do. You can never climb to Zone One because it requires you to be still and recognize where it actually lives, everywhere.
Fractal Nature
How could Zone One plants be everywhere if the conditions required for Z1 plants are not ideal in the other zones?
The Mountain of Life is fractal in nature, which means all plants exist in all zones at all times to varying degrees.
A Fractal is a never-ending pattern, an indefinite ongoing loop.
Life Mountains’ fractal pattern is that of darkness transitioning to light. All along the mountain, pockets of light give way to the Emo-plants of Zone Two and One, and in the same way, obstructed light fosters shadow conditions for all Z3 plants. You can find pieces of all emotions in all zones; you just have to know how to look for them. When you learn to look for the emotions, you can find Z1 emotions in the clearings and overhangs of Z2 and edges of Z3. As you learn to look, you can learn to avoid the action that can drag you into caverns or down into Zone Three. You can find a little bit of the plant you currently need in each zone; you just have to be willing to look for it (or accept the emotions) because the mountain connects all the emotions. To find Zone One, you must learn to accept all emotional plants as they are and enjoy the view from wherever you are. Learning how to be still and enjoy the view is the only path to Zone One on Life Mountain.
Something to remember
There will be times when you choose to climb the mountain; when you do this, make sure you take your time. Life mountain doesn’t exist to be summited; it exists to provide you with experiences, so don’t get lost in the goals and forget to soak “IT” in.
There will also be a time when you fall off the mountain, and it will hurt—the pain of shifting from contentment to abandonment. Emotionally, it’s the same as a 25-foot fall; it not only hurts but can directly affect the physical body. Give yourself time to recover before you try again, and remember that falling is just a part of the experience; you can try again as many times as you need.
This Mountain is about Experience, not accomplishment.
Enjoy the view.