My friendship with trees

November 2, 2011 | Category: pics, we are earth's stewards

The strength and power of the trees at our local park always impress me. I noticed this summer that sitting at the base of these trees slowed my frenetic thoughts and offered me a more peace filled perspective on my life. When Amira and I went to the park, I would curl up at the base of the tree, lean into the trunk and breathe. If I brought a journal to write, my thoughts would flow smoothly and carry in them wisdom and love for myself and the world I live in.

I’ve always found it fascinating that trees thrive on our carbon dioxide and they provide us with life-giving oxygen. In the mid-90s I worked at Microsoft. I remember getting off the bus in front of my work building just before dawn. The sky was a rich, dark blue color. The deciduous trees were bare, with their trunks, branches and twigs exposed. And looking at them against the contrasting sky, I suddenly saw it. Upside down to my perspective, there they were – the earth’s many lungs. Each lobe complete with its wide trachea connecting to the bronchioles that then divided into the smaller alveoli.

The trees take in what we exhale and we, in turn, inhale what they breathe out. We are intricately and intrinsically connected. It’s easy to see why and how they are so healing and nurturing to me and to all of us. The sense of solidity, constancy, and wisdom wash over me when I’m in their presence. I love taking the time to connect with their energy. I feel my own roots extend out and down – centering me. I feel my heart expand and my soul stretch up and out to the sky.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

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