Greetings from beautiful Japan! Although this is my third Japan tour, it has been filled with firsts. It is the first time that I taught my Color Certification Course to students, demonstrating how they can incorporate color energy techniques into any existing spiritual practice. I scheduled a two day break in the middle of the trip, and we thought it would be fun to visit Miyajima island for the first time. This island is considered one of the three most beautiful, tranquil places in all of Japan, and for good reason. Friendly deer roam this magical town and will come right up to you for a cuddle. They have a peaceful, zen energy that complement the island perfectly. There are lush, tree-lined mountains everywhere you look, and stunningly beautiful Buddhist temples waiting to be discovered.
We were celebrating David’s birthday, and always try to do something new to honor the gift of a new year. After a peaceful night of sleep in our ryokan, we decided to hike up Mount Misen to the highest point of the island. We had been told that at 1.5 hours long, the hike could be difficult, but we had been exercising regularly back home and wanted to give it a try. You can take a cable car up, but we thought it would feel more rewarding to walk and enjoy the various waterfalls on the way. Starting out, we felt inspired and motivated by our surroundings. The path meanders along a beautiful stream, underneath a canopy of trees that give it an almost rain forest feel. For the first half an hour, we enjoyed the workout, excited to complete our journey.
Well let me tell you, it became incredibly hard! With each step it felt less like a hike and more like a climb. The path continually got steeper, with some areas that required jumping up from one rock to the next. Along the way we found several resting spots to gather our selves, drink some water and wipe away the buckets of sweat. Japan in the summer can be extremely humid, and our soaked clothing looked like we had been swimming.
To be honest, there were several moments when we wondered if we should turn back. My relaxing day off turned into much more of an undertaking than we expected, and we both agreed that we probably would have taken the cable car if we had known this was going to be so hard.
We stopped yet again to catch our breath and drink some water, and began to feel defeated by our activity. Just as we started to seriously consider turning back, the sound of a long horn trumpet echoed down from the top of the mountain. We looked at each other, wondering where the sound was coming from. Then we began to hear a drum beat. We took it as a sign and committed to keep going, no matter how many breaks we needed to take. The closer we got, the sound of the drum beat got louder until it began to reverberate through my whole body. It felt deeply spiritual, somehow beckoning us from above.
When we finally reached the top of the mountain, legs shaking and spent, we saw the source of the drumming. Just beyond the final step was a majestic Buddhist temple, where a lone monk dressed in a golden saffron robe was drumming and chanting as part of a prayer ceremony. Sweet incense wafted through the air. Panting, we were both transfixed by the power of this moment.
“Am I hallucinating? I jokingly asked David. We both laughed, and allowed the breathtaking, panoramic views of the island to calm us as we took deep breaths. The vending machine filled with ice cold water was quite calming as well.
Although it turned out to be much more than we bargained for, we were grateful for the experience. This felt like a symbolically positive way for David to embark on a new year. We all have our mountains to climb in life. Once we accept a challenge, the journey can seem daunting and sometimes impossible to overcome. Turning back is always an option, and there is nothing wrong with knowing one’s limits. But if we take our time, rest when we need to catch our breath, and heed the call from the top of the mountain, a profound reward awaits us at the summit.
Is there an opportunity in your life that is tempting but also overwhelming? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to support you!
12 Responses
Wow!!! Amazing story, beautiful pictures! I could feel the peace of that wonderful place! Happy belated Birthday to Dave! Thank you Dougall for sharing in such detail your great Japan hike ! …
My next step in life sounds like your story… Not sure what to do… Blessings !!!
What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing, Dougall! Loving animals as much as I do, I’d LOVE to meet the deer on the island. The temple…sounds quite wonderful, to my spiritual-self.
My ‘mountain’…which also had a steep path…was surviving an abusive mom with a violent temper. The same mom I fought tooth and nail for…as she failed from heart disease and dementia, 12 years ago. To be honest I fought for her not out of love, but because as a human being, she deserved to die with respect and dignity…as we all do. I think spiritually at some point, you need to ‘put your money where your mouth is’.
The top of my ‘mountain’ found me earning my Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude, this past May, as a 63 yr old. Who knew? I wasn’t a particularly good student…until I attended the college I did. And until some of my professors took me under their wings, helped me to come into my creative self, and became friends in the process.
Due to my personal ‘mountain’…self-confidence is a major issue ALL the time (as is being able to forget what happened, while growing up). Mom was the person she was, until the day she died. So it was never easy…
Another mountain top? I wrote 2 film scripts while on campus. I ‘should’ be filming the short one, ‘Tango’, this summer. One of my college film professors, would be filming it with his high-end, digital camera. But…I’m feeling overwhelmed in regards to pulling all the details together, prior to the shoot. I’m short some student actors/actors in general. I’m afraid I’ll forget what I need to have organized…locations, actors, story board?, permits?, and ???!!! Because this particular prof. is SO not going to hold my hand, or give me much if any, helpful input. Though by year 4…I finally managed to earn his respect, with a ‘comeback line’, at the right time.
I feel my ‘dream’ is starting to fade away. I’m afraid if I can’t pull it all off, the prof. won’t put off helping me film the script…until next summer. It’s already been pushed back once, due to health issues on my end last summer (1st allergic reactions to wasp stings while gardening, which lead to a Lyme Disease flare-up).
Some people have it worse. I’m fortunate…
‘Tango’ had to be a 2-day shoot, so its script is all of 9 pages long. It had to have a particular student as the female lead (it does), it had to be a film noir (it is)…and it had to “involve tango dancing on a bridge over the Charles River” (it does), per that challenging film prof. The Tango Society of Boston holds a ‘Tango by Moonlight’ event…until the end of Sept/beginning of Oct. When their event season ends, so does the chance to shoot B-roll footage.
Said prof. is finally back from traveling up and down the East Coast for all of June. Now it’s July 22nd…and I feel so overwhelmed and scared…it’s hard to move forward. Though, I’ve tried to make some headway re. ‘Tango’, this week.
And yes…there IS a longer, 33 page script, that I sorely need to get back to…after reading ‘Save the Cat!’ as recommended – for a better script when writing draft #2. I’ll need to save up $ on a budget that currently has no wiggle room, and re-submit the script for another critique by a film prof. from another university, whom I’ve been working with online since last year.
This longer script is a ‘caper’ that takes place in Mt. Auburn, Cambridge. The characters are based on people a late friend knew while growing up in the ‘hood…along with some people we both knew as co-workers. THIS particular prof., thinks my script contains a “powerful story”…after I fix the “ubiquitous formatting errors”, and flesh out the main characters. (He’s right) He thinks I have talent. He’s proud of my accomplishments re. my new college degree. And…he’s a nice guy in general, as well as being extremely helpful to work with. Though he’s left Emerson College as Adjunct Film Prof., he’s into working with me going forward, as a F/T prof. at a university in PA. I feel very blessed…
And I’m learning to fly a drone…so eventually I might be able to buy a better drone and a GoPro, for future film projects. Or maybe, some business I haven’t thought of yet.
And so the OTHER major stressor in my life is income. That ‘mountain’…has been a life-long struggle for the whole of my life…for whatever reason. I think I chose too difficult a lifetime, before I reincarnated, this time out. I mean…I HAD to be WAY too full of myself (“Throw it all at me. Piece of cake. I’ll work off TONS of karma!”)
OR…it’s energy and karma left over from a previous lifetime?
It’s been a beast for 6 of 7 years- post layoff, when it comes to being a single homeowner who’s been aged out of the workforce – trying to swing a mtg., house bills, car repair, and other bills in general. Hence the reason to return to college.
But then the corporate world doesn’t seem to take kindly to intelligent, creative, people, who will never be a ‘good little robots’. But hey…the upside is…I never would have returned to college or found my creative self, if I had been able to find re-employment in the corporate sector.
The top of this mountain is…I’m now on a program where in 3 years, my student loans will be dismissed (unless I make too much income, or take out another student loan). The steep path creatively is…buying prof. script formatting software once I fine-tune ‘Mt Auburn Maze’ to the extent is should be. Purchasing film editing software for my home Mac, and getting a new desktop Mac at some point?…same deal. Purchasing a good, HD camera/film camera…same.
The creative view from the mountain top is…I’m really good at lobbying for myself. So when I can put together $20…a new drone co. that sells extremely user-friendly drones, has offered to extend their $20 on sale on their basic model drones to me…for whenever I can come up with the $20. Score!
Thus in many ways, I feel EXTREMELY supported by the Universe.
On a day to day basis? I worry about paying my mortgage over the next 12 years (only 12 years left!!!). I worry about grocery $. I’d like to be able to eat healthier…all the time, not just sometimes. I worry about the upcoming winter…and pulling together $ for home heating oil (while paying off an old balance with the oil co. – who eats up any extra payment I make…by charging me a monthly service charge on an old balance I’ve been carrying.
When I get overwhelmed…I come to a crashing halt. I know enough to find and celebrate all the abundance in my life. And I do. BUT…despite this exercise…I find it’s hard to create abundance, when your internal ‘weather’ screams ‘lack’ all the time. Part of that is probably PTSD and my anxiety disorder from my childhood.
And yet…My s.o…is a wonderful guy whom I met via an online pen pals page…17 years ago. We’ve weathered failing parents and job losses, on both ends. Which means a round trip plane ticket for an initial meet up, is currently not in either of our budgets. Though he’s promised to fly to Boston, before I have him show me around Australia.
The top of the mountain on this one? I was a phone tech at a major Boston Hospital when we ‘met’. He’s a media teacher. And look at me now…I’ve graduated with a Major in Visual Media Production. Who knew?! We have tons in common. More so, now. I got him through his dad failing from Parkinson’s…which brought us even closer.
He actually got up at 4am Melbourne, AU time…to watch the live-streaming of my College Commencement, then tried to call me (cell phone vm wasn’t working). Sent me a congratulatory Ecard, and 2 follow up emails. (And 2 emails, since).
He also loves animals. He loves to fix up homes (and mine has become a fixer-upper since the Winter of ’15). But it’s still my ‘castle’, my slice of heaven’, and I feel really blessed to have it. I live near 2 old ‘highways’…yet have wetlands that abut my back yard…which invites in wild birds, wild deer, wild rabbits who nest and have babies in my lawn, the occasional coyote strolls by, sometimes wild turkeys (I have a collection of feathers, to make smudging fans with)… It’s pretty awesome.
And my Aussie? My having no siblings and no immediate family left…has meant he’s also become family, in a big way. And through me, he’s learned if you don’t have family, or your family is ‘broken’…just make a new one!
That’s the overview. Apologies for the verbosity, Dougall. I wanted to give you the big picture on things.
Namaste
So on the whole…life is great!!!!!!
But to move ahead creatively…$ would be useful. To keep my mtg current, to treat Lyme, to get the front end repaired on my car…$ would be useful.
I feel like I keep hitting this wall…all throughout this lifetime. I can’t figure out how to shift the energy any further.
I’ve always felt destined for something great…I just don’t know what.
After a lifetime of the ‘wrong guy’ in my life…I have one who says I inspire him. One who respects me. Who’s supportive. Who’s caring. Who’s as intelligent and creative as I am. And yes…I fully realize that the Universe will get us together live-and-in person, when it deems the time is right. But…seems sometimes…the ‘right time’ might well be another lifetime.
He’ll fly over from Melbourne, AU to Boston. He was going to in ’07…when his dad began to fail. I get it. Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt.
He never did visit Boston when he back-packed across the world…some10 years before we came into each other’s lives. In the meantime…I have a whole lot to do creatively and otherwise. So I get that, too.
I am consinering a move to the top of a mountain to the village I love so much. I am exploring opportunities to live and work at Holden Village for 1-2 years. It is exciting and terrifying at the same time. I may need your guidance on this one 🙂
Holden Village, OMG Deb! That is your magical place, how exciting!
The place sounds amazing, I too could fee the deep peace just in your telling the story. Talk about a reward at the end of the rainbow, yowza!
Perfect metaphor for Pluto in Capricorn. …. the mountain goat was your ally! 🙂
Those vending machines with ice cold drinks were a godsend even in october, the period I visited Japan. Long time ago now…
As for mountains to climb, mine just got steeper to the point of being totally impassable. The goal isn’t worth it and going back now gives as much problems as it solves. And lets not talk about being utterly stuck while other climbers go by and reach the top.
No, I should never have climbed a mountain.
Wow …thanks for sharing
I want to travel all around the world..but I haven’t got the courage to start …even though nothing is stopping me but me
My son Hayden is currently working on the island of Hokkaido and unless he finds a sponsored job by December he has to return to New Zealand. I really believe he belongs in Japan, please Dougal can you give him any guidance as he is a very sensitive soul. Thank you in advance.
Wonderful blog Dougall. Yes, I have a great business idea that I want to bring to life but I am also feeling a little overwhelmed with the work to do so. Right now I am feeling should I or shouldn’t I… a little fearful to take the first step.
Thanks for sharing your travels Dougall and weaving in the metaphors of life. I love the ceremony at the top of the mountain and the timing for you! I have had to be very mindful of pausing and acknowledging accomplishments in life instead of looking for the next mountain and this was a good reminder. Squeezes to you and David!
Hi I so thoroughly enjoy reading your accounts of anything because I experience it completely! There with every step! plus a wringing top! with the bright sun…but the lyrical sound! definitely a vibe from the divine cosmos. That gave me pause because it was unexpected for me too! But then you were in Japan I see.
Me — my mts. Feels like one is topped. Last summer I took your class (or one you gave) and at the end I was offered to ask a question and I gambled my question about a property we’ve owned now 13 years and have put enormous effort to sell. However, your answer served me well this entire year to keep my heart open with my mind — to trust. Yesterday we received our first offer. Low-ball. But, then, it’s not finished yet and so we’re in process. We’d at least break-even….and life is surely more than dollars. It’s an entire life that is completing — of an entire world of chosen beliefs attitudes sorrows thoughts all of life. But the whole past year has been pretty intense with re-organizing, purging and tossing, editing our living spaces, our drives and goals of life — all kinds of 9-yards! So, this feels good! Time is going on! with us in it!! hahah gee. So, my next mountain is to pursue the astrology study I’ve been circling this past year, but now I feel I’ll have the path cleared by mid-October to really pursue it industriously on a daily basis! And that is so exciting! I want to climb that mountain to be professional. And I want to climb the mountain to link my creative pursuits along with astrology! painting, writing, we’ll just have to see how it goes! Any feedback is always 1000% gratefully received! ps We are deliberating if to sell and buy a larger place in Kona….we have a studio we rent out. In some ways I feel this decision will evolve naturally — but my husband is so gung-ho…another perspective would be helpful. Blessings to all your energies Dougall