“Take hold of your own life.
See that the whole existence is celebrating.
These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious.
The rivers and the oceans are wild,
and everywhere there is fun,
everywhere there is joy and delight.
Watch existence,
listen to the existence and become part of it.”
– Osho
When I was young a maple tree in front of my house became my best friend. I loved to sit in the crook of the highest branch, a place where I could hide from the world and from myself.
The tree did what it did best. I did what I couldn’t do anywhere else. I relaxed into the tree’s bark of protection.
I grew into the tree’s singing leaves.
I bent into the tree’s branches through the storm of my life.
I leaned into the tree’s trunk of refuge.
I breathed into the tree’s exhalation.
When I was around sixteen my parents separated and sold our house. My mother bought the old summer bungalow from my grandmother in the same town. My tree refuge was no longer mine, but I used to bike there to visit and the tree continued to do what it did best.
Until one day I arrived to find many of the branches of the tree cut off. There was some sort of tree blight happening in the area and I believe the new owners did what they did to protect my tree. But the tree could no longer protect me and I was left rootless.
It would be many years before I could relax, grow, bend, lean and breath into anything. The roots of healing grew slowly within me, but when they did I learned how to do what I did best. And I relaxed, bent, leaned, and breathed into everything.
