- On resiliency in nature and us -
In my last essay I talked about how circles play a big role in our lives. Whether we look at the blood circulation, the breath cycle or the seasons, we are living with and in a never ending circle of life. For me trees are a wonderful teacher of how to flow inside these circles and not get tired of the spinning wheels. The following poem that I wrote speaks to this:
Circles Look at the trees How they never Refuse To dance Even in the scariest Darkest storm How they bend And twist and turn And willingly Let go Of all that is old To make space For deep introspection And new life Always trusting That spring will arrive As gold Turns to nothingness To then emerge In greens The space between The fallen leaves And the tiny bud Of new beginnings Bearing possibilities Of lifetimes Look at the trees Never afraid To remain empty Knowing That mother earth Will take their seeds Into her nourishing arms Forming the circle of life Around their hopes and dreams Comforting them With her warmth Carrying them home In her loving womb Until they are born Again.
Nature always expands. The circle keeps going and growing. Even if a plant dies, its seeds remain in the soil, ready to grow a new plant. Out of the rotten fruit a wonderful tree can bloom. Nature doesn’t worry if a plant is not blooming. It doesn’t give up on the plant, it doesn’t put down the plant and it doesn’t blame the plant for dying. Nature just is. The neverending cycle of death and re-creation bears beautiful phenomena like colourful leaves in autumn, vast fields covered in frost in winter and tiny buds that poke their little heads through the still frozen earth in spring.
Nature continuously creates. If there is an issue, nature creates new solutions. In the following picture nature’s resilience is captured astonishingly well.
Like all plants, trees have resilience and no resistance. They flow with the course of the seasons and the unstoppable heartbeat of nature. They let go of their leaves when it is time to change. They grow new buds when the sun tickles their branches and they are incredibly resilient against a lot of weather conditions. A plant always turns its face towards the sun, attracting exactly what it needs every time. If obstacles are put in its way trees adjust and find creative ways to continue to exist. This is why nature is so fascinating to humans.
We are part of nature. The way plants provide us with oxygen and we give back CO2 is perfectly orchestrated. Nature itself doesn’t worry about climate change, as it will find ways to adapt. We as humans do, as we know that without oxygen we won’t survive. Yet, we underestimate one big fact. As we are part of nature, we are creators too. We too have the power to find solutions. We too are resilient. The further our roots reach into the core of the earth, the more resilient we are. How do we grow our roots?
In our society we tend to focus on growing our twigs, branches and fruits. We are focused on the outcome. We learn to grow our skills, expand our mind, collect knowledge and we try to always reach higher. We tend to circle around ourselves and our own lives. Seldomly we stop and remind ourselves that we are part of a bigger picture, a wider circle that surrounds us in a warm embrace.
In an experiment in the desert trees were grown under a big glass dome together in an environment with people and animals. Everything was set up to be under perfect conditions. After a while it was found that the trees started to collapse once they’d reached a certain height. This was due to their roots not being strong enough because of the lack of wind. In natural conditions wind causes the trees to grow deeper roots. As the trees need wind to grow roots, we need stormy seasons in our lives to grow too. When we focus on the bigger picture, the bigger circle, in retrospect we will find that everything that happened to us actually happened for us. So we might as well relax and let our branches dance in the winds of change.
For me, a way of cherishing trees is tree hugging. This way I feel connected to the creations of the universe, being part of this bigger circle grounds me.
If you want to have some fun, look for faces in the trees. They are truly everywhere. Here you can find a compilation of pictures I took from tree faces. Maybe you feel inspired to take them as inspiration for a creation of your own art. Draw it, paint it, form it with clay or write a song or poem about it? If you do so, share it with me please, either in the comments or contact me on this website.
If you share it in social media, tag me with #onlylovecanhealtheworld or #sadhbhadamea or #theheartofbeing so that I can find it.
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Thanks for reading!
Lots of love,
Sadhbh
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