This past week I visited one of my favorite places, Glacier National Park in Montana.
The natural wonder is abundant, with majestic mountains, gorgeous lakes, streams and waterfalls, and many species of wildlife.
These trips never fail to recharge and inspire me.
Sure enough, as I left the park on this particular day I was once again ready to move mountains.
Yep, mountains.
Such is the nature of this kind of inspiration – you feel so good you feel you can take on ANYTHING – like moving a big chunk of stone a couple of inches.
Or perhaps something a tad smaller, but no less “mountainous” – like that big “to do” pile sitting on your desk.
It’s a high that sustains itself with every mountain you move – but alas, like anything that goes up, it eventually comes back down.
And suddenly you can’t even push a pebble.
What then?
You go back to your trusty sources of inspiration, and you start the cycle again.
Our psyches have a need to be nourished and rejuvenated, and this earth in its wisdom has provided us with plenty of brain food to do just that.
The trick is to get the timing right – and fortunately for me, this visit to Glacier came exactly when I needed it.
What is your trusted source of inspiration?
Is it a place- a person – a book – a song?
None of the above, or all of the above?
When was the last time you visited this source?
If you haven’t been there lately, take my advice – go there. Soak it in.
And then move some mountains. Big ones. Like this:
Go on, give it a push! 
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Terry – I agree with the awesome experience of the mountains and how they can imbue confidence for many other things. I wrote this poems about mountains (well, River Rocks, which were once part of the mountain):
River Rocks
they’re born as boulders
not puny rocks
slammed against others
fractured and ground round
stumbling stone tumble weed
they come from mountains
grand, tall, in command
casting shadows
thrust up from the earth’s core
each range reveals a story
energy of eons compacted
give glimpse of the inner world
river rips, mills, and collides
soft water becomes hard
unrelated rocks slice
boulders to pebbles to sand
sun bleached and crowded
on a ride always losing more
as water drives and pries
away the mountain range
river rocks sloshing
down the trail smoothed
by time rammed into each
made round and small
pebbles
set off grains
collect and harden
sink into the hot inner core
Dang. I think it’s time to go out West again for a visit. The challenges/mountains here in the East just aren’t big enough! :>}
Terry, I love this post, and am thinking now this is how we first connected, talking about a sense of place and the mountains you described in a national park. It’s also how I first got to know Rosa, learning about how a sense of place also connects to our values, so when we connect to that source we also connect to something deep inside us. Hence the ability to move mountains
My source place is the landscape of the west highlands of Scotland: lochs, rivers, hills and mountains. Blues, greens, undulating hills, wild bleak moorland. Does it for me every time
Sources of inspiration, especially when they were close enough for me to access regularly, were, for many years, major in my life too as sources of refreshment and creativity.
And those mountains look great! I would love to have gone out west. (Severely disabled now – housebound and mostly bedridden.)
You have my looking forward to my annual trip to the Adirondack High Peaks next month.
Hiking does wonderful things for me, for my mind and body. The part we all love most is seeing views few will ever get to witness. That’s what doing something should be all about, right? Seeing a view few will get to witness.
It’s why we do lots of things all week long, like read books and watch sports and hang out in coffee shops and bars.
I’ve always wondered why many companies want their employees to work as many days and hours as possible. There are studies which show people are unproductive after 2-3 hours without a long break in the day, and unproductive without time off. Our intuition tells us, yes, these things are true. We need to be refreshed every day, and we need a major recharging more often than we may get it.
Glad you enjoyed your trip, and I hope the next one is even better!
Well, no mountains, but do molehills count?
Nothing says renewal like a great trip.
Nature always gets my creative juices flowing. I am amazed at how beautiful and moody it can be. I absolutely love sunshine (and heat) – one sure way to kill me is to lock me in a room without windows!
Amen to that Trina – sun is a very important “fuel” for me as well. Thanks for stopping by, and all the best!