What the Tree Told Me

Today was beautiful!  The sun was shining something fierce for mid January.  So I decided to take a walk.  The air smelled like spring; fresh and full of life.  I think even some of the grass in the yards I walked by were confused by this change in weather, because I saw some hints of green peaking through the snow.  The birds were singing to each other exclaiming how they were at peace.  I couldn’t help but have a little spring in my step, which was a nice reprieve from the heaviness I have been feeling.

I made my way out and about and finally to the town park to sit by a specific tree.  I grew rather fond of this tree after my walk ended up there yesterday as well.  This tree is growing in the perfect place to catch the afternoon sun for a good 3 hours without being disturbed by any shadows.  But what makes this tree special to me besides the fact that I feel connected with it, is the bowl shaped roots that stick out of the ground.  The bowl is the perfect shape to fit my butt without any sore spots and it is positioned just far enough away from the trunk for me to slouch to my heart’s content (and my spines).  It’s the perfect place to sit without getting “swamp-ass” from sitting in the wet grass.

Before I sat down I asked the tree if it would share energy with me.  The first time I did this with a tree I was amazed at how willing the tree was and how grounding it was for me.  I was so thankful for the experience.  This time I just wanted to hang out with this particular tree.  So I sat to journal. 

When I was down journaling I was praying about random things and talking to the tree I was sitting with.  If you are at all familiar with Eckart Tolle, then you may be familiar with the “pain-body”.  I was talking to the tree about my pain-body and how active it was these last two days.  I asked the tree if it could take it away, because I saw my pain-body as bad.  And the tree said that was impossible.  I asked what I must do instead and it said to embrace and love it, for it is part of myself.  I didn’t wonder why for very long before I knew the answer.

SIDE NOTE: Let me say that I have just been having conversations with Logan about a few ideas surrounding good and bad.  If there were no bad, there would be no good.  And if there was only good then life would be boring and we would not be able to grow as much.  So bad adds interest to life.  Life is full of good and bad and that’s the way it should be.  I recently heard a definition of peace that I really liked, though I haven’t found any source to say that this definition is used anywhere in the current or historical world, however, this is the definition that I like, Peace: the state of being as it should.  So with that in mind, life, with it’s good and it’s bad, is at peace.

I have been thinking about my relation to my pain-body as a type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde relationship.  However, that is not the case.  In reference to my pain-body, I am three parts.  I am: 1, the observer and 2, the pain-body, and 3, the “happy-body” (what I decided to call it).  I am three-in-one.  If I were to get rid of my pain-body I would be unbalanced, terribly.  Even by rejecting my pain-body I am unbalanced.  The tree was telling me to love and embrace my whole being, even the part of my being that seems to be “bad”, but really just gives me interest.  It was saying to know that I am at peace.... I am as I should be.

Subsequently, I am now at a greater state of “peace” than when I started.