Wandering Willow is a space for reflection, rewilding, and deep connection—with yourself, nature, and the stories that shape your life. Rooted in Forest Therapy and a passion for storytelling, you’ll find musings on nature’s wisdom, the heart’s wild truth, and the journey of remembering who you are.🌿 Freshly foraged each Wednesday🌿

🌿 The Trees Are Talking (and So Are We)

I missed this live when I first meant to post it — part perimenopause brain, part Substack changing the layout and me still not fully recovered from it. But when I found it a month later, I realized it was one of those conversations that deserves to be shared again.

This live was with my anniversary friend (9/23!) Cali Bird , and it was her very first Substack Live. We talked about trees, burnout, long-COVID, body wisdom, and the strange, healing friendship that forms when you start listening to the land.

Becoming a Tree Hugger

Cali began by laughing about how far she’s come:

“I first started coaching 20 years ago… and I used to say, yeah, I’m not a tree-hugging life coach.”

Now she smiles at that sentence.

“Let’s fast forward 20 years because in the last five years, I definitely am a tree hugger. I love trees. I have my favorite tree, which is called Granny Oak… When I used to lean against her, it felt like she was giving me a hug and saying, ‘don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay.’”

Granny Oak became her touchstone — a presence she returned to every Monday morning through the hardest season of her life.

Listening When the Old Ways Stop Working

Cali spoke about how illness and menopause shifted everything she knew about herself.

“What used to work to get you through stops working… your strategies don’t work anymore and you need to find new strategies.”

That struck me deeply. I shared how, for me, 2020 and 2021 were the same kind of breaking point.

“In 2022 I walked away from my job because I was having panic attacks… the only thing that could help was to get in nature, like on the ground, literally, lay down and feel the earth beneath me.”

We both reached the trees at the point where our bodies stopped letting us push through.

The Trees as Teachers

Throughout the live, we kept circling back to how nature teaches in small, quiet ways. Cali described holding one leaf in each hand “like completing the circuit,” feeling herself “plug in” to the tree’s energy.

“It’s not that it gives me a boost of energy, but it is energizing or I’m… taking it. It’s like when you’re on a battery, you connect positive and negative.”

I shared how messages come through when I let my mind empty:

“Stuff will just come in… whether you want to say I cleared my mind and was able to hear my higher self or it was from the trees — everyone’s welcome to interpret that however they feel.”

We spoke about the feeling of “home” that trees give, and how even parking-lot trees deserve a greeting.

“I always make it a point to touch any tree that my car is parked near and just say hello… because they’re literally ignored all the time.”

Reciprocity and Trust

Both of us returned again and again to the idea of reciprocity — that the relationship has to go both ways.

“Even a simple thank you is reciprocity,” I said. “Because we’re talking about talking to trees and gaining the wisdom and all this stuff and it’s like get, get, get. And it’s just like, okay, well, what am I giving back?”

Cali added:

“I do frequently thank the trees… but yeah, that’s a good point — how can we give back to the natural earth as well?”

Trust was another thread. Both of us left jobs without knowing what came next.

“My heart says trust,” Cali said. “I have no proof… but I feel like my body won’t let me do otherwise.”

“Trust has really been the theme of the past three years for me,” I said. “I walked away from my job, I don’t really have another income stream. But the only other choice I had was to keep going and have a panic attack every day. And I really feel like that would have led to like serious consequences. It felt like I was having a heart attack every day. That’s not healthy. That’s not a way to live.”

Re-Learning How to Be in Our Bodies

We both spoke about learning to stop cursing our bodies and start listening to them again.

“For all my adult life, I cursed my body… and I’ve learned totally to change that and have that loving spirit to myself.” (Cali)

“When you’re able to listen to your body more, you’re able to listen to the nature that’s around you because your body is nature.” (Sam)

That’s really what the conversation kept circling back to: that the trees aren’t separate from us. We are part of the same breathing system, the same nervous system of the planet.

Closing Reflections

By the end, we were laughing about how we both talk to trees in parking lots, and how the simplest “thank you” to a leaf or a breeze is its own form of prayer.

This live reminded me why I started Wandering Willow in the first place — to remember that we belong to the world that holds us.

The trees are still talking.And we’re still listening.

Rooted Word Circle

Rooted Word Circle is a monthly gathering of writers, seekers, and story-weavers. Through gentle prompts, shared reflection, and nature-inspired ritual, we create space to put words to what’s stirring within. Each circle is an invitation to slow down, listen, and write in community. We meet every 2nd Wednesday of the month at noon Eastern.

November’s theme is Gratitude & Gathering.

The next circle gathers on Wednesday, November 12th at 12 pm ET/ 9 am PT

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Wandering onward,SamWandering Willow 🌿Reconnecting Through Nature

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