A wonderful client of mine shared a beautiful book recommendation recently. The book is ‘How to be more tree‘ by Liz Marvin.
If you have ever attended a Bird workshop you will know how much we love using trees as metaphors for wellbeing and resilience. We love how trees grow with the changes of the weather. We love how they are interconnected and share information with each other. We love how they use community to thrive. We love how they bend and adapt to their surroundings. They are a wonderful illustration of how we can relate to changes and challenges in a natural way, a way that isn’t panicked or resistant.
‘How to be more tree’ explores the many ways in which trees are resilient and wonderful. One page in particular has jumped out to me so far:
‘Attend to your core: Black Walnut
Focus on building your inner strength and you’ll have a solid trunk to support you through the stresses of everyday life. Trees are masters of this – after all, their trunk has to support all the weight of their branches and foliage on the windiest of days. The centre of the trunk is called the heartwood, and the black walnut in particular has some impressive inner steel. It is admired for its beauty and its strength, and its heartwood is so tough it can withstand huge force without fragmenting.’
Tend to your core, do whatever you need to do in order to feel sturdy on the inside. It might be about changing the way you talk to yourself, it might be about addressing old wounds, it might be about ensuring you feed yourself well, it might be about doing yoga or pilates.
Tend to your core and be more tree, because life does throw up all kinds of challenges, and the likelihood of surviving, and even thriving through those experiences is all the greater if you’ve tended to your insides.
With love as always, Hannah and Team Bird
Photo by Fabrice Villard on Unsplash