Trees
Thursday, March 6th, 2014
This morning I happened across one of the Sunday sermons by the School Of Life http://www.theschooloflife.com which by the way I would highly recommend.
The sermon was given by Dan Pearson, garden and landscape designer, writer and broadcaster http://www.theschooloflife.com/library/videos/2013/dan-pearson-on-commitment/ whom I had heard about in the past but not really ever listened or read up on. I do have a vague memory in the back of my mind of a beautiful gardening book I once came across which I believe he had contributed to.
Sitting and listening I was moved to write down the following extract of his talk where he defines process in much the same way psychologist Mikay Csikszentmihalyi describes as ‘flow’ and his story about the process of planting the young tree and not being around to see it in it’s maturity. Have a read and contemplate on his words for a few seconds and see what thoughts and connections it triggers for you.
“A process is something in which we can lose ourselves as we would when we were a child. It’s the kind of pleasure we get when we are completely absorbed. ”
“ …….. A friend of mine who is a geneticist, Katherine couldn’t believe how I was able to out a tiny sapling in the ground and be quite happy to imagine that I had to wait, 5, 10, 15 possibly 50 years before that tree ever became something with any gravity. But for me it’s the process that’s the interesting thing.
It’s not about the pleasure of the tree when it’s a hundred years old necessarily. It’s about getting it through those early stages, when it needs to get its roots in contact with the soil getting it to the point where it’s not going to be overwhelmed by the grass and the weeds around it because it has the upper hand.
Getting it to the point where I can stand in the first little pool of shade that it casts when it’s old enough and getting it to the point where it can bear its own fruit so it can then reproduce itself.
The process for me of planting that little tree is something that makes the whole thing worth it.”
Dan really spoke to the reality that he may never see that tree in it’s full grown state and in knowing this he is able to then let go and enjoy the present moment of the process. How often in our current lives are we driven to achieve the end result? How often do we drive ourselves to the finishing line (I know it is a good thing to get things done) but often at the expense of missing out on the wonders of the process?
Yesterday I sat hunched over my computer with the shutters in the room I was working closed as the sun shone brilliantly outside. I told myself I was too busy to open the shutters, too busy to clear the table that walkers by would have a full view of so I missed out on the process of the day.
It was only when I dashed out the house to put petrol in my car that I realized the wonder in the day I had let pass me be as the evening began creeping in.
I see it a lot in the training of new coaches. They want the tool kit, the models, and the killer coaching questions. They don’t always place the value on understanding and being present to the process of their own unfolding, their own learning, their own growth and development.
Don’t get me wrong I find much of what I am talking about here hard from time to time. Yesterday on the phone I was chatting to a coach whom I had met on a coaching course. She asked me how things were with me. I told her about how my days were no longer packed full with training, coaching and marking assignments. I followed this with how I felt I was lagging behind compared to many of my peers and colleagues who seem to be speaking, coaching and training every minute of their day.
She wisely pointed out in a gentle way how ugly comparison is as both a word and as a feeling causing me to pause and take a breath.
The pause and the subsequent breath helped me access a new thought. Why had I neglected to share how much I was writing in these days where I was no longer under pressure to be somewhere or having to facilitate one coaching session after the other? How I really loved creating a new series of programmes and deepening into my body of work where I am experiencing being absorbed and lost in time.
So much that sometimes I forget to eat not because of stress but because I am not hungry. Why? The work feeds me and when I am fed in this way my appetite changes.
Would I dare to say I have valued the time to think and the space to meditate in the middle of my day? Could I talk enthusiastically and wholeheartedly about how much I enjoyed the long stretches I have some days to write and carry out research and of how I am connecting across different schools of thought and linking it to material I am working on now.
Each of us is like that tree that Dan refers to. If we’re not careful we may well miss the richness the process offers us in each moment.
Process is the place of mindfulness and mindfulness is the art of arriving and being in the present and the present is an aware appreciation of what and who you are being in the here and now.
Jon Kabat-Zinn captures this in the following quote, ‘When you are taking a shower, check and see if you are in the shower. You may already be in a meeting at work. Maybe the whole meeting is in the shower with you.’ The product is good but without the real lived appreciation and acknowledgement of the process it probably is worth very little at all.
Enjoy your day.
No Comments
Monday, February 3rd, 2014
Do you have a memory of a favourite tree? Most people do. Trees are a great source of material for your writing life.
The Cherokees called trees the standing people, telling us that trees embody the energy of our ancestors. Taking this cue from the ancients:
- Write a list of personal strengths that have gotten you this far in your life?
‘There’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter: they’re experts in letting go,’ writes Jeffrey Mcdaniel.
- As fast as you can write a memory about letting go?
- If you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?
- Imagine becoming still like a tree
- Write about what you would see and observe in the stillness about your life right now
- Write about what you may have missed or overlooked?
All images copyright of Sarah Woolfenden. To visit Sarah’s website click here
Used with permission.
A Tree As Lovely As A Poem Journaling Tip 237 click here
No Comments
Monday, January 27th, 2014
The following excerpt (sent to me by one of my former coaching clients Paulina Richards) by Tyler Perry, uses the metaphors of trees to describe the quality of friendships. I found it really helpful as in the last few years I have found that many of my close friendships have fallen by the wayside or have not been what I or the other person expected. It’s been helpful but not always easy to evaluate the role and contribution I have played in all of this.
Reviewing my history of friendships over the years has helped me gain insight and understanding into my own personal journey with friendship. Just today I wrote a piece about my first day at infant school. We had just moved house so I joined a week or two after term had started and was immediately cast into the role of the outsider. I was the newcomer who spent a lot of time on the sidelines feeling alone before I was gradually accepted. But I don’t think I really ever let go of that experience which included being bullied.
When it came to college I had a really close friend who was like a sister and one day, that was it, no announcement, no upset but it was clear the friendship was over. Perry’s analogy places her in the Branch category. See what you think.
Tyler Perry’s Friendship Tree Test ………..
I have this tree analogy when I think of people in my life, be it friends, family, acquaintances, employees, co-workers, whomever…They are all placed inside what I call my tree test. It goes like this:
LEAF PEOPLE
Some people come into your life and they are like leaves on a tree. They are only there for a season. You can’t depend on them or count on them because they are weak and only there to give you shade. Like leaves, they are there to take what they need and as soon as it gets cold or a wind blows in your life they are gone. You can’t be angry with them, it’s just who they are.
BRANCH PEOPLE
There are some people who come into your life and they are like branches on a tree. They are stronger than leaves, but you have to be careful with them. They will stick around through most seasons, but if you go through a storm or two in your life it’s possible that you could lose them. Most times they break away when it’s tough. Although they are stronger than leaves, you have to test them out before you run out there and put all your weight on them. In most cases they can’t handle too much weight. But again, you can’t be mad with them, it’s just who they are.
ROOT PEOPLE
If you can find some people in your life who are like the roots of a tree then you have found something special. Like the roots of a tree, they are hard to find because they are not trying to be seen. Their only job is to hold you up and help you live a strong and healthy life. If you thrive, they are happy. They stay low key and don’t let the world know that they are there. And if you go through an awful storm they will hold you up. Their job is to hold you up, come what may, and to nourish you, feed you and water you.
Just as a tree has many limbs and many leaves, there are few roots. Look at your own life. How many leaves, branches and roots do you have? What are you in other people’s lives?
I found it a helpful model for making an inventory of friendships. It is similar to a model I was introduced to some years ago by US Life Coach Laura Berman Fortgang. She introduces these three levels for evaluating your friendships:
- Rocket friendships are the kinds of friends who fire your up whenever you are around or in contact with them.
- Floaters are friends who are more neutralised. It’s easy to be with them but it is not that engaging or energising. They’re dependable, but there’s not a lot of challenge. There maybe a lack of depth and real connection missing from these relationships.
- Sinkers are the kinds of friendships where you realize that your energy is drained or decreased when you’re around or with these friends.
One of the ways you can really stretch yourself with your friendship evaluation is to as well as taking an inventory of your friends take an inventory on how you imagine your friends see you in any of the above roles.
- What friends experience you as the sinker/leaf people?
- What can you do to change or sift this relationship?
- Is it time to let it go?
- What friendships are your rocket or root friendships?
- With who are you the floater/branch people? What would move this friendship into a rocket or root relationship?
- What friendships is it time to let go of?
- Who are potential rocket or root people who you might have overlooked in your life?
No Comments
Monday, November 11th, 2013
My friend Janet sent me this stunning image of this great tree in the Guyanese Rain forests. It’s breathtaking.
Spot the man in the photo. I only saw him on my third look. Those raised roots had me mesmerised.
No Comments
Monday, October 21st, 2013
Here are three of the Tree Kits in my collection. I’ll sometimes introduce them on writing workshops as a way of connecting with nature and trees and also as a way of learning about the different energies associated with trees along with some of the more ancient customs and traditions of certain trees.
I always find whether I am working in the corporate world or working in the arts or public sector that there’s always a genuine and often curious interest amongst the audience whatever rank and profession when we start to talk about trees and what trees mean to us. This is often a good link to health and well-being.
I’ll often find myself using the metaphor describing the nature trees in my coaching work or even in creative writing workshops as prompts for example:
- Where could you go out on a limb?
- What would help you become rooted around this issue?
- If you were a tree what shape would you be in right now?
- What might you need to shed right now?
In fact I think I’ll respond to some of those questions later on today when I have some time to write in my journal
The tree kits featured in this photo include?
The Wisdom Of Tree Oracles Jane Struthers, Tree Affirmation Cards Victoria Sofia Lewis & The Celtic Tree Oracle Colin Murray
No Comments
Tuesday, October 15th, 2013
I’ve just read the poem below in Janette Blakemore’s Sacred Moments newsletter www.sacredlife.co.uk and wanted to share it with you this afternoon on the blog.
See what you think. It made me want to leave the desk
I am working at and go out and take photo’s of leaves.
The poem is untitled.
Leaf by leaf they tumble and fall
All my haggard hurts.
Like a cottonwood tree ever so slowly letting go,
So the heartache of my heart.
There goes a bit of sadness, now a leaf of anger flies,
Then it’s the dropping of self-pity.
The leaf of forgiveness takes forever to fall,
Almost as long as non-trusting.
Leaf by leaf they fall from my heart,
Like a tree in its own time.
Old wounds don’t heal quickly, they drop in despairing slowness
Never looking at the clock.
It seems a forever process this healing of the hurt
And I am none too patient.
But a quiet day finally comes when the old tree with no leaves
Is decidedly ready for the new.
And in my waiting heart, the branches with no leaves
Have just a hint of green.
Joyce Rupp (prolific writer, retreat and conference speaker and spiritual midwife)
No Comments
Friday, August 30th, 2013
I spent the last two weeks in Barbados on holiday and found time once again to go visit the oldest tree on the island, my favourite tree the Baobab tree in Bridgetown’s Queen Park. This is a ritual I’ve adopted every time I’m on the island. My visits to the island every year never feel complete until I have made time to go visit the Baobab.
This trip I was accompanied by my friend from the UK, Sandra Richards who is now living on the island and working at the University of the West Indies.
It was a lovely moment sharing this treasure with Sandra who shared in my delight at this exquisite specimen.
It was strange, as the cricketers playing Saturday afternoon cricket had turned the ground around the tree into a parking lot. It seemed unnatural the sight of modern day cars juxtaposed against the backdrop of this ancient tree especially as I have been feeling more and more that this tree needs to be provided with some form of secure protection given it’s history and it’s heritage.
Still I am confident that this tree will be with us for many years and moons to come.
Enjoy this month’s photos and self-portraits of Sandra and I visiting The Queens Park Baobab tree.
2 Comments
Sunday, August 18th, 2013
Feast your eyes on this amazing Baobab tree in Africa.
I can only imagine what stories and history of the village this tree has witnessed.
- What are this trees stories?
- How old do you imagine this tree to be?
- What name would you give to this tree?
No Comments
Friday, August 16th, 2013
Our Writing For Our Lives Retreat in July 2013 in mystical Glastonbury was magical
Glastonbury was the perfect writing spot. The sun stayed out and played with us
The trees waved and held the space whilst the breeze danced and swirled offering a comforting breeze against the sun’s heat
On the first night as we got acquainted under the branches of a great tree, Badger came
We wrote, walked, wrote, walked and talked and wrote and wrote
We played, rested, ate well, shared, deepened and unbuttoned
The Wild self came out to play on and off the page
We fed our writing and creativity in a space of ceremony, ritual, inner reflection and emptying on the page
We entered silence and many did not want to break the sweet territory of silence once the time was up
We woke at 4am and did a silent walk up the Tor and greeted the day with the Rising Sun, the howling wind and the crows
It was a natural high, the body sang and rejoiced
We walked to Chalice Wells Gardens and wrote and Dee found her sacred writing spot
We read and shared with each other
Wrote each other affirmations and word gifts
When the time came to leave we did not want to return home
We’re doing it all again next year April 2014
Don’t leave it too late to join us next year
It’s too good a writing retreat to miss
It’s more than a writing retreat so come find out
Your writing self will hug and be delighted for you.
In the meantime enjoy some of the photos and video testimonials from our 2013 Writing For Our Lives retreat
Photo credits Lynne Philp & Jackee Holder July 2013
No Comments
Saturday, July 27th, 2013
Last week was the second Writing For Our Lives writer’s retreat, which this year we hosted in the sensory and mystical landscape of Glastonbury
Here are a few of the images I captured of the trees on the grounds of the Abbey House retreat centre where we stayed. I love the photo where I captured my own shadow.
The images also include a few of the self-portraits that I ritually take of myself with trees. It’s a photographic assignment I always assign myself when amongst great trees. I spent half an hour clicking away to my hearts content underneath an awesome Pine tree on the grounds.
My whole face comes alive when I take self-portraits and I do feel that a different part of me surfaces and comes out to play.
I believe we take better photos of ourselves than the many attempts that are made by others often not very successfully to capture and really see our souls from behind the lens. Try it.
One of the writing rituals during our weekend included reading out aloud a chosen piece of writing that had been worked on during the weekend in the company and presence of a tree before it was read aloud in the main group. This turned out to be both a magical and shifting experience for many of the writers.
I can’t wait for retreat number three. More images to come on the blog.
No Comments
