What are alternatives or metaphors for the idiom of discovering a "gold mine"?

Question

The context I am writing in is along the lines of: When we can identify and appreciate our emotions, we are able to carefully engage both emotion and cognition in the decision making process which makes it a "very valuable" destination point when we are able to get to that stage.

I'd like to use an idiom to describe this "very valuable destination point", the best I've come up with so far is discovering a gold mine:

When you are able to use your knowledge to transform your feelings into a positive and productive force, you will have found a gold mine.

Is there a more common idiom that would work here? Is there one that would fit better within the context of emotions?

Answer 1

to strike gold OED idiom in the figurative

(fig.) to find (a source of) great profit or success.

As in:

When you are able to use your knowledge to transform your feelings into a positive and productive force, you will have struck gold.

Answer 2

I'd say that a more common idiom than "finding a gold mine" is hitting the mother lode:

^informal to produce or find something that will make you very rich, happy, or successful: They hit the mother lode with their second album.

^{Longman dictionary}

The mother lode is:

the place where the largest amount of gold, silver, etc., in a particular area can be found

^{Merriam-Webster}

So it's analogous to your "discover a gold mine", but in my experience it's more idiomatic.

Note: I'd tend to spell it motherlode as one word, but all serious references I can find spell it as two separate words.

Answer 3

To leave the mining metaphors behind, we could use a more broad idiom:

Clear road: Item 3
Free of any obstructions or unwanted objects.
‘with a clear road ahead he shifted into high gear’

(The above clear road/high gear can be figurative or not)

When you are able to use your knowledge to transform your feelings into a positive and productive force, you will have found a clear road ahead.