Simple Suggestion #283... Hug a tree

Tree hugger has been used as a derogatory term by corporations that have been frustrated by environmentalists. But if you click this link, you'll find an interesting story about the original tree huggers, who were/are indigenous people on the other side of the globe trying to protect nature (rather than white North American hippies or celebrities). It also explains how the idea of tree huggers arrived in North America in the 1960s. 

Lately I've been moodling in my mind not so much about tree hugger activists as I have been about simply appreciating trees. When my family moved to Edmonton, our home had a huge May Day chokecherry tree in the back yard, and how I loved it. I could climb high enough in its branches to see over our house, and I spent many hours in it, playing with my sisters or reading books. Unfortunately, it developed a split in the trunk and eventually was cut down out of safety concerns around the time that my parents renovated their home in the mid-80s.

To be honest, since that tree disappeared, I hadn't given much thought to the trees around me. But since a visit to T'l'oqwxwat, also known as Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew in BC two years ago, I've been much more aware of all my relations, and especially the "Standing People" around me. Often when I take Shadow-dog for walks, we head for the trees along our river valley.

So today's suggestion/poem is designed to invite us all to appreciate the canopy of pale green in the urban or rural groves now unfolding their leaves all around us. Humour me, and when the weather is fine, hug a tree...

How to properly hug a tree

Choose 

a bare tree trunk
about as wide as you are --

in a place away from the eyes of others.

Take 

the tree between your hands.

Look 

deeply into its bark

and see 

its wrinkles and imperfections;

look up 

and see

its perfection as a tree.

Lean 

into it, 

press your cheek against it

and wrap your arms around it.

Hug 

it gently,

feeling your muscles

tighten in embrace.

Think 

about the life blood 

flowing through your body

and the sap

flowing beneath the bark.

Envision 

the connection

between blood and sap --

the Creator of both.

Imagine 

the roots

below your feet 

drawing goodness from the soil

and exchanging nutrients

with nearby plants.

Close 

your eyes 

and inhale deeply

of the oxygen 

the leaves freely offer

in exchange 

for your breath.

Open 

your eyes

and let them settle

on restful green

with blue space between,

focusing on the way 

leaves and branches move.

Appreciate

the solidity,

the structure,

the strength

of the one

you hold in your arms.

Dream 

its planting,

its growing,

the birds that have nested in its branches,

the fledglings that have left it behind,

the creatures that have sheltered in its shade.

Know

it as a vital partner

to your very existence

to the web of life that surrounds you.

And when 

you have held it long enough,

Sit 

with your back against your well-hugged tree. 

Give 

gratitude for it,

for its place in the universe,

its Creator,

and for your ability to

Recognize 

all that is good.

P.S. For more Simple Suggestions, click here.