I take walks frequently through the nature preserve behind my apartment complex. Over the last several months I have been walking around a fallen tree, and often wondered why the preserve management hadn’t yet removed it.  It was lying directly across the walking path.. There was enough room to maneuver around it without much trouble.  So, I surmised, they probably are in no hurry to get to the task.  But I noticed something today for the first time.

The leaves were quite green.  If the tree was dead, which I presumed it was, the leaves would have become brown and fallen off by now.

So I followed its trunk to its roots, and noticed that the tree was still very connected to them. It had simply fallen over, from what could have been lightening, or severe winds.

The tree was very much alive.  The roots were supplying the leaves with their much needed nutrients and chlorophyll.

Well, most of you know me by now, and that I can’t resist making an analogy to our ascension process.

Yes, this process often feels like we have fallen down and are dying or in the process of dying.  To our mind we are losing our life force and are physically or emotionally prone.  Down for the count.

And, maybe we look that way to others.  But it’s important to recognize that we are just as vital, just as alive, but we are also going through a transformational process that will knock us off our keester from time to time.

Of  course a more apt analogy would be the caterpillar to butterfly, but work with me on this one.  My point is that it’s important not to make assumptions.  Just because we may be feeling ‘down’ physically or emotionally, it doesn’t mean we are disintegrating.

We still have a strong connection to our source.  We may have experienced some trauma in the ‘fall,’ but it’s negligable in the scheme of things.  Our ‘treeness’ Is still very much intact.

And, using the tree analogy, we are sturdy, and are able to withstand a lot.  Changes in weather and seasons (emotional and physical iterations).  In fact, it adds to our strength.

It could be why many of us have an affinity for trees, and feel revitalized around them.  They also feel and appreciate our presence.  We are not your run of the mill human, and they sense it.