My Talk With a Tree and a Rock

(6/10/23)  

As I neared the end of my routine morning walk, I found myself on a gravel canal road. The rising sun warmed my back, and the water rushing by felt calming and energizing at the same time. I passed a lone juniper tree that I’ve noticed on my walks before and felt a strong urge to stop, it was as if the tree was beckoning me to cozy up under its canopy into the beautiful welcoming space beneath it. 

For a moment, I considered walking past the tree, as I have so many times, but this time I paused, looking at the inviting space I ducked down and crawled inside. It’s a few feet down from the path and feels secluded and secretive. And though it’s in plain sight on the busy trail, several people passed never taking notice of my presence.

I perched myself onto the large flat lava rock near the base of the tree’s trunk. I reached up and touched the thick half-limb that was right next to my face. It was broken and appeared lifeless with no leaves or berries on it, yet when my hand made the connection, I felt a surge of energy. I could feel the life force of the tree.

I sat for a moment then I asked the tree, “Do you like it here?” The tree quickly responded with, “I do not like it here, I am just here.” The tree continued, “what good it would it do for me to like or dislike where I am, this is where I am and shall always be. I have warm sun to touch me and beautiful sky above me, the water trickles past and there are many other trees around as well, I provide shelter for the animals and make oxygen for the planet. I also bear the weight of the snow and cold in winter.”

“This is where I am. I am here. If I were to dislike it, I would still be here, I would just be miserable.” 

I loved the sentiment and felt it so deeply inside of me, as I sat…there. “I am here” I thought. We are all here, wherever it may be. Do the trees look at one another and say they dislike the other trees, how they look, how they stand. Of course not, and in response to that thought the tree said to me, “we are all different, we are here, we are love.” I got the sense that the trees talked amongst one another of the wisdom of the ages, even though this tree was a bit isolated, it still had connection with all the other trees around it and across the canal. 

I then reached out to the large rock in front of me and asked, “do you like it here”. It also responded with, “I do not like it, I am just here.”

I asked the rock if it knew of the mineral kingdom, it gently replied, “I know everything, I am God. I am me, I am here, I am God, and I am love.” I wondered if this conversation was real between me and the rock and the tree.

I then asked the rock, “how do you know things if you don’t have a brain?” The rock told me that our brain is not consciousness, it is merely the battery and control center that allows us to move around. “Knowing comes not from the brain, consciousness is in everything.” This also resonated with me deeply.  

I lingered a bit longer with my eyes closed, simultaneously holding the branch, and touching the cold face of the rock. I told them I would be back, and most definitely I will. I cannot wait to hear what they have to share with me next.  

As I left my spot of quiet contemplation and connection, I felt very grounded and connected to the Earth. When my hands were on the branch and the rock face my feet began to tingle as they often do in a reiki session. I continued on my walk looking at each tree and thinking about how they do not judge one another, they are there, and they are love. And I thought of the people in my life whom I like or dislike and wondered how much that process is serving me. The binary nature of liking and disliking people, places, or states of being, how does that help me just “be here”? I was listening to Jay Shetty on my walk that day and he spoke of nonattachment which applies to this quandary of like vs. dislike, good vs. bad.  We attach to our ideas of other people and ourselves. And while our observations can be useful and even accurate at times, we limit ourselves and others by attaching to our decisions about who and what each of us are.

If I am not attached to things being a certain way or to my beliefs about how they are, I remain more fluid to show up and experience what is happening in the moment. If I can accept that “I am here”, I can choose to enjoy here. I don’t have to like it and I can dream of or intend to have a different experience in the future…

…but if I never learn to enjoy being here, I will not enjoy anywhere.  I am here, I am God, I am love. 

Blessings, 

G