Diversity, Connection and the Courage to Grow
I’ve made my way to France to attend an Alumni organised by the NLP Master Trainer Sue Knight. A very special two-day event where a community of people who have attended her trainings over the years come together to share their stories and learn from one another. Each of the presenters and facilitators offered insights and experiences from their life and inspired everyone there with their fabulous personal stories. I listened to a remarkable woman who plays the cornet. She told us how she has modelled, the skill to ‘carry on regardless’ whenever she hits a wrong note. And she demonstrated that to us in real time. Another wonderful woman offered us an experience of Feldenkrais. A method of gentle movement and body awareness that enables you to improve flexibility, reduce pain and assist the body’s natural healing. It’s a somatic experience that aids you in letting go of tension in the body. I heard from another incredibly inspiring and brave woman who openly shared her experience of living with OCD raising our awareness of what that means for her and others living with this condition…and so much more… The event brought together a diverse range of people from across the world, who all held a similar outcome for the event. To connect, learn and grow.
And as I sit in the beautiful Dordogne reflecting on that, surrounded by trees, my mind has wandered. I find myself thinking about a documentary I watched the night before I headed off on my travels.
It was about forests. Not the plantation type where humans create uniform landscapes and where trees of the same species are clumped together. The natural kind where all different types grow. Pine trees, oaks, birches and the like. There’s something special about these kinds of environments. They feed, protect and nurture each other. The diversity of the species is what makes them thrive. They each offer something unique. Different species produce different nutrients and properties that help to nurture and strengthen one another. And ultimately, collectively they produce a rich forestry able to withstand the pressures from the elements and external forces. The adult trees provide a canopy of leaves that shelter the baby ones. Allowing only 7 – 13% of direct sunlight in. This makes the baby trees reach and stretch towards the sun. In doing so their trunks and branches grow tall and strong.
What really fascinated me was that arborists have now discovered that trees experience a similar thing to what we as humans call emotions. You could say that they feel fear!!!
When a tree is faced with a threat to its survival, such as an infestation of parasitic insects, they recognise it and act accordingly. A chain reaction begins where the tree produces enzymes that enable it to grow little twig like branches that act as a barrier to protect itself. And not only that, but it also shares this experience of fear with the surrounding trees. To help them protect themselves too. It produces chemicals that travel down through its trunk, into its roots where it then finds fungi in the ground which transport it to the roots of the surrounding trees. Letting them know to begin the process of producing little twig branches of their own. For me, it’s a fascinating process and clearly demonstrates the intelligence that resides in all life forms on this planet…and the interconnectedness of all things.
A question came to my mind that the documentary did not answer and one that I had to go searching to discover more…
What happens when the threat subsides?
How do the trees return to a state of homeostasis?
When the threat has gone, how does each tree return to a place of balance?
What I learnt is that unlike humans, trees don’t heal. When they experience a cut or loose a branch they bleed and then go through a process in which they compartmentalise the damage. From that point the tree can grow and develop in other ways and directions. At times those wounds can develop into cavities that continue to cause further damage to the trees structure. Yet, if they are fortunate enough to have a highly skilled arborist in their midst this can be prevented. The arborist who is highly attuned to the needs of the forest and who recognises the importance of supporting the trees with only natural resources can, and does, make a difference. When they identify a cut or incision in the tree, they add strength to it by using natural resources such as a mix of bee’s wax and orange oil. They spread a layer of this mixture over the wound which allows it to breath. This in turns enables a callous to form over the wound enabling the tree to strengthen itself.
Another interesting phenomenon that caught my attention was how the elements also help it to return to a state of balance. Some of you will be familiar with the metaphor to ‘shake the tree’ and can take from that what you will. When the wind blows, and shakes the tree gently, it serves as a way for the tree to let go of ripened fruits, leaves and twig like branches that no longer serve it. This offers a space for something new to develop and in that process, a beautiful unfolding can begin.
It makes my mind return to the question of nature versus nurture. The importance of the right environment, the collective intelligence that supports, the unconscious processes and internal resources that nurture, strengthen and heal. And the people that can, and do, make a difference…
The shaking process has shed some of the unwanted debris for me, the things that I consciously knew needed to go in order for new growth to happen. Yet it also removed more than I bargained for…some things and people that I didn’t anticipate losing. And what’s fascinating to me is that some of that shedding only seemed to occur when the new growth came about. It happened in subtle ways. Perhaps the new growth I have created pushed them out. Perhaps to truly thrive it’s important to understand that what no longer sticks around is part of a natural process. Perhaps the new conditions I have created are no longer conducive to their needs. And perhaps it’s a continual process of learning to accept that and to ‘let it go’ from a place of love, compassion and understanding and to ‘carry on regardless’ while embracing the new unfolding and growth…
