Photo: A tree. A trail. A tree. A moment to breathe. Sometimes that's enough. Montana (2005). Copyright SJPhotography

Love, Wisdom, and a Tree: Finding Wholeness in the Ashes of Trauma

I went to the mountains the other day. To my trail. My favorite trail.

I hiked up and on the way back stopped at my favorite tree. I call him Big Brother Tree because he has an arm that is just slightly above my head, and I can hold onto it like a big brother might allow. Strong, steady, willing, loving, safe.

As I stood with him and shared his space of beingness, of rootedness and presence, I am always moved. But as I moved away, I could feel a deeper wisdom coming through.

The understanding that we are never separate. We are never without love.

Love, from Big Brother Tree’s perspective, is all things. Just being. Never wondering if there is more or less or enough or needing more. There is just this moment. This present moment. Everything is here within it. Nothing more and nothing less to be added.

The wind flowing up the mountain and into the canopy of trees and grasses. The birds flying and chittering to each other. The rooted state of a tree in communion and harmony with all things is all that is needed.

Love is everywhere. Love is all there is.

I was mesmerized by the truth of it. Thankful for the wisdom granted to me in that moment. I had longed for that kind of knowing, feeling, deep insight, and wisdom, and here it was.

I felt it fully.

Love is everywhere, in everything, at all times.

There is no separation in love or from love in any moment. It only takes the awareness and openness to understand and accept it as our authentic and holistic state of being.

The tree was in a state of isness. A love affair with all things because it needs nothing. It is forever grateful and appreciative of what is. Of what is happening in each moment. Of its state of being. Of its aliveness.

And yet, this tree. Big Brother Tree. The tree I have held onto and leaned into and held like the big brother I never had, is now scarred up one side of his trunk and into his branches by fire.

One side as it always was and the other side charred and blackened.

I don’t know how much time he has left, but I do know that he does not grieve his state. There is no resentment, despair, anger, or feeling of being victimized.

There is only aliveness.

Only now.

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