View Related
I want you to take the time to go outside and sit in front of a tree that calls to you and think about the following:
How does it look?
Is it leafy? Is it bare?
What do the leaves look like? What does the bark feel like?
Are the branches interwoven above or are they defined and orderly?
Does it look different to the other trees in the area even if they are the same species or not?
What makes it so special?
Does it have anything you would consider an imperfection?
Why did you choose it (or rather, why do you think it chose you)?
What attracts you to it?
Record your answers in whatever way feels natural to you – sing a song and tape it, write it down, draw your impressions, make up a mathematical equation – it doesn’t matter as long as you have a record that allows you to look back on it.
The reason I have asked you to do this is because this tree is unique, as you are. It was born from a seed, just as you were. It has grown up through its cute phase, its awkward phase, and its prime, just as you do. It breathes, it needs sunshine to create chlorophyll (we need sunlight to create vitamin D in our bodies), and it reproduces. It can sense change in its environment, recording much in its body and adjusting its growth and way to maintain itself during difficult and not so difficult circumstances, just like you.
Each tree has it’s own way of surviving through hardships. They have battle scars from burns (check out the Australian bushland a few weeks after a fire and you will see the trees start to thrive again with leaves sprouting along their branches), from our own neglect, and from environmental change. They have memories and their memories are imprinted in the way they have grown and in the rings within the tree itself.
They make no apologies for their state. They continue to live and when they have reached a certain age, they die, but they leave many seeds in the meantime so that their offspring can have life. Just like you.
And let’s look at the root system. Of course, we don’t have physical roots stretching out into the ground, taking in the earth’s nutrients for food. However, symbolically, we can see the tree in the roots. It exists above and below the earth. It is of both worlds simultaneously. It is always connected. We, on the other hand, use our energy to create energetic roots into the earth when we feel the need to ground ourselves or to connect to the earth for healing. Both of us are of both worlds.
So what is the point of this?
It is so easy to dismiss trees because they don’t move, they look nothing like us and they can’t speak. It seems we have nothing in common. And yet, according to an article in the May edition of Eureka magazine (which comes with the Times newspaper, UK), we share 35% of the same genes as an Oak tree.
But can we create a friendship from sharing common genes? No, if that were the case then we would have peace on earth. When we make friends with those of our own species
, it is usually because we find that we have something in common with them. Whether it’s how we spend our spare time or the fact that we work together or that we enjoy certain websites and movies, friendship revolves around a common ground and develops into something personal over time.
The point of the exercise above is to help you see the common ground. To see the being behind the stereotype of TREE.
Beyond the stereotype
Sometimes we try and hide ourselves from the world and give ourselves a different persona. We place masks on our faces to accommodate others. We hide parts of ourselves that may be looked down on or are not according to the rules of a certain group of people.
When I was working in the new age shop, I remember being told by someone that my problem was that I had to learn to trust. I wasn’t told in what way I wasn’t trusting and how to help develop trust, only that it required practice. I thought that considering I was traveling on my own and had overcome a lot of obstacles, that I had come to learn to trust life A LOT. It turned out that it was to do with my spiritual development – that I had to learn to trust myself and my abilities. Fair enough.
Except that it started to affect me. If I questioned anything, or tried to look for answers, I was told to stop thinking about it and just trust. I kept feeling that something was wrong with me, that I was doing things wrong, that I couldn’t be spiritual if I questioned what happened.
What I came to understand ~ what I learned from the trees ~ was that we are born with certain gifts and predispositions, and that is ok. I analyze things because I am looking for truth, not just working my way into a belief system. I know that there are things that I can’t explain and while I continue to try and find answers, I am ok with not having the answers (yet). I don’t take things at face value: even when having communicative experiences with trees and stones, I look for rational explanations. And that is ok. It is who I am. It is how I have grown. It is what has made me the person I am today. And while there are things I would like to work on, I am not going to hide what I was born with and what I have learned as I’ve grown.
We are who we are. Even when we develop ourselves spiritually and physically, we will do so in our own way. When we try to be like someone else, we lose our identity and power. We lose our spark.
BUT…
if we accept ourselves, our past hurts, and stop living to stereotypes, we find that we are living and developing in a similar way to trees. We discover a common ground.
And that will open us up to friendships with the Sidhe Seeds in trees.
************************************************************
If you are interested in learning more, please check out my website (www.sidheseed.com)
OR join my facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/TheSidheSeed
Post Article:
Submit Your Own Article