It's a human tendency to compare ourselves to others and to feel as though we don't measure up. But if we look to trees we might gain some perspective. Trees don't compare themselves with their neighbors. They exist, pure and simple. Perhaps there are life lessons to be learned from trees. Listen to the story here: https://upliftedpodcast.com Photo by @efscudderjr
Many people have thought and written about what humans can learn from trees
Here are some links:
https://blog.tentree.com/10-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-trees/
https://www.outofstress.com/12-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-trees/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-without-borders/202002/what-we-can-learn-trees
Hello and welcome to Uplifted. My name is Meg Luther Lindholm and I invite you to join me on the path towards a more mindful and compassionate life. Today's step on the journey is called Learning From Trees.
Many young people feel uncoordinated, ugly and unpopular. And I was no exception. But fortunately, over the years my sense of myself shifted and improved. Yet remnants remain like when I see a tired face looking back at me in the mirror and I think ugh I really am getting old. Or when someone doesn’t return a call or an email and I take it personally.
This morning I sat on a bench and watched the trees in front of me swaying in the cool morning breeze. The light shifted continually, illuminating different patches of thick ground cover. Leaves shimmered in the breeze and nature seemed so alive in its glory. Trees don’t care if they are beautiful or ugly – pockmarked or bent over or resplendent in their full, leafy green beauty. Beauty is not a concept to trees. Trees do not compare themselves to each other and move away from those they consider unworthy. They don’t pick up and move to other forests. Trees just are. They move and bend in the wind and adjust as they need to. Trees are born with the instinct for flexibility. They don’t resist. They sway and grow towards the light and reach up high. That is the inner instinct of trees. It is for humans as well – but we let too many socially conditioned, negative messages and experiences get in the way.
We can learn from trees. We can let go of all the mean messages, taunts and ways in which we felt demeaned by others. We can learn resilience and flexibility from trees. Once we let go of the messages that hold us down – that hold us in our perceptions of inferiority or disability - that hold us in tape loops of “I can’t,” and “I’m not good enough,” then the world can open up to us and we to the world. We can begin to grow more fully. Our unhappy situations in life need not define us. We can make a change. We can learn from the trees.
Meditation can help with this process of letting go – letting go of thoughts that enter the mind – so many of which cause unhappiness. We bring our awareness to the thought and then we let it go. We do this over and over and over again. This process of letting go is at the heart of the practice. And in this way, we learn that our thoughts are ephemeral. We can let go of their control over us, Let go of their weight, Let go of thoughts that burden or paralyze us. We can live in a more supple harmony with life as it is.
Thank you for joining me on this step of the Uplifted journey. You can listen to this essay as a podcast here. You can also subscribe to my blog here. I’d be grateful if you’d share either or both. Until next time, take care of yourself and each other.