Tree Feeling

This is an homage to my grandfather, Dr. William Burch Jr., who spent his whole life trying to either save the environment or educating the world about the importance of our world. He once told me that when he is struggling with all of the things life throws at him, he will go and sit next to a tree for 1 hour and his mood improves tremendously, he called it “tree feeling.” Every time he needs help, he does this as a way to cope with life. This really made sense to me because whenever I am in nature my mood improves and I can feel the positive energy and connection with the world. Suddenly, my thoughts and feelings are a lot less overwhelming and I realize that if the universe supports all of these trees and animals, why wouldn’t the universe do that for me? As I’m sensing the life of all the nature around me, I realize that I am not alone and we are all connected. Life does seem to be more doable after I spend time with nature. Nature is therapeutic. I actually have had sessions walking in nature. It might take time for you to cultivate this energy from nature, however, what I find works is to use the skill of mindfulness. This is a process of engaging all of your senses in that moment and just breathe it in. The Japanese call it tree bathing and I find that to be a great description. Just bathe your senses in everything you feel, see or touch. At some point you will start to relate to nature in a way you never knew was possible. I have realized that nature is a another being in life and is alive and you can connect with it. When I was in the process of getting a divorce, I was in Maine, on a mountain with a lake surrounding me. I would wake up and go to this particular place next to this certain tree and I would just cry. I did this at least for an hour a day. I was fortunate enough to have 3 weeks to just focus on this without work. I guess my own version of eat, pray, love😊. I can tell you that I did not feel alone once. I was in pain and yet I felt as though nature was hugging me and telling me that I would be ok. I would look around and see that nature wasn’t worried about anything and trusted the universe to provide their needs. So, I felt encouraged to trust the universe with my life. I needed to find out how to trust myself. I can tell you that nature helped heal me and was my best friend that summer. I left that beautiful mountain and lake in Maine having learned that I can trust myself and that I would be okay no matter what. I left knowing that the universe is real and is always supporting me. Finally, I left knowing that Nature is therapeutic and I that I wanted to share this with everyone. Nature is right there for you. We must take care of nature, if we don’t we only hurt ourselves because we are all connected. So, when you are feeling low or having a bad day, try hugging a tree - it just might hug you back😊!