"Stones have been known to move and trees to speak." 

           - Shakespeare, Macbeth

 

The trees, as with all living beings, are distant relatives to me, to you, to all of us. 

 

                   I love that the phylogenetic tree is a representation of the greatest ancestral tree.

Like a mother tree, it holds the information of the changing times. The changing environments. 

 

It shows our shared genetic makeup - the lineage and path of mutations and adaptations over time, that led to the beautiful diversity that is life. 

 

It shows that we are all related. Brothers, Sisters, Cousins. 

 

The trees, they are my family. They are the ones I go to when I am seeking advice. 

      The Great Connectors - helping me to always be in touch with my global family and my loved ones. 

 

It isn't hard...

                     ...To hear them. 

 

       It is just a form of remembering. Remembering to step into tree time. Remembering to listen. To hear, to honor and to respect. 

 

Remembering a language, long forgotten. 

 

Just as we forget at times, how to speak to our grandparents, many of us have forgotten how to talk to these beautiful ancestors. But we can remember. 

 

If we are willing to listen, they have soo, sooo many stories to tell. It is just a unique form of relationship building.

                   Just as each person has their unique way of connecting, so do trees. 

 

I invite you to find a tree to sit with in your community - where you are.

Find a tree that you feel called to build a relationship with. Bring a book to it, tell it a story, have a conversation with it. Be present with it in whatever feels right to you.

     Think of it as a friend, an elder, someone you are wanting to get to know, someone who has a story.

Go back and meet with it, every day, other day. What your schedule will allow but make an effort to be present with it.

     Offer to create with it, see if it wants to collaborate.

What is important here is a genuineness to be present. To share yourself, and to listen. 

 

....It might feel weird at first....

               ....LET IT.....

 

You may question, why am I doing this?

      That is ok.

 

Give yourself the permission and feel the resistance...(inhale) 

Ask where that resistance comes from, and for a temporary moment, step into a plane where that resistance is removed, and the potential exists. (exhale)

 

What do you hear? 

 

 

.....Say hello from me when you go and visit your tree....

I will meet you there. 

 

"The oaks and the pines, and their brethren of the wood, have seen so many suns rise and set, so many seasons come and go, and so many generations pass into silence, that we may well wonder what “the story of the trees” would be to us if they had tongues to tell it, or we ears fine enough to understand." - Maud van Buren

 

 

 

Video - How trees talk with each other - Susanne Simard

Video - The Networked Beauty of Forests - Susanne Simard

Video - How Trees Talk - The Wood Wide Web - Susanne Simard

Video - 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World - Paul Stamets 

Video - The Wood Wide Web: How trees secretly talk to each other