When the world is too much to bear, sit under a tree and wait for her to tell you a story. As her leaves rustle and her branches creak, she will reveal hundreds and hundreds of years of tales, of the moon rising, and the sun setting, and the insects crawling up and down her bark. She will remember the hawks that made nests in her highest branches, and mushrooms that grew near her roots. She will sing the inspiring songs of birds she has heard, and tremble recalling the sound of thunder, as the light that preceded it often threatened her very existence. She will speak of lovers who picnicked under her cool shadow, and kissed pressing up against her textured skin. But she will also speak of warmongers who have never ceased in their relentless aggression towards everything that walks and talks and swims or flies amongst every living thing on this good earth.
Plagues are not new, she will inform you, and war is as old as man. Just as there are rings in my core, there are cycles that are continuously repeated until lessons are learned. Conflict will always exist within the Homo sapien village because of fear and the ego. A spider has no ego. It simply spins its web crafting an intricate tapestry every day in order to survive.
What lessons have you learned, she will ask you. What in your life has come to an end in order for something to begin anew? If the world has become too much for you to bear, observe my sisters who are grounded in the earth. Look how they stand tall in silence. Look how they grow despite the threat of axes. There is wisdom in the forest that man has yet to understand. When you are tired of conflict and repeating the continuous cycle of pain, listen to the forest and wait patiently for an answer. Watch the spider spin. Witness the birds nesting. What have you created? How are you contributing to the flow of all there is? Do your limbs protect and shade and provide as do mine? Are you growing? Are you giving oxygen? If not, then seek the sunshine for you need healing. Trees do not gossip. They do not fight, destroy, argue, or oppress. War is not in our vocabulary, this wise tree will admit. Only community, communication, and cooperation. If your goal each new day is not to grow, nourish, and support, then it is time to seek a new goal, because if you don’t change your ways, this will be the end of your cycle.