The Tree of Life: Discovering Goodness in Unexpected Places
More of something good...
Hello dear reader.
I’ve been struggling to write. Anything. I manage bits and scraps, but nothing of note.
I look at my laptop like it’s a nervous, unsure animal that might bite me if I make the wrong move. I circle it, I move it from room to room, I open it and then close it.
I distract myself with something else. In this case, reading, not writing. I tell myself good writers read a great deal, but I’m just making excuses.
I’ve been heading to the forest and the ocean like my life depends on it these days. I’ve been off medication now for just over a month. I don’t want to go back on it. I inherently know if I do, I will be on it for the rest of my life. I am not ready to accept this reality.
After having a negative reaction to the last SNRI drug, which worked great, until it didn’t, I’m reluctant to try something different. As a result, I am having BIG feelings.
There is happiness and there is deep sadness. I’m allowing myself to feel all of it. It’s not overwhelming me yet, but as the days and weeks tick by, I am listening to what my body is telling me. My head and my body are fighting at the moment. Which is likely why the writing hasn’t been able to flow as well as I’d like. I’ve been here before. I know how this ends.
This is why I’ve been latching on to every good thing I see, hear or read—and passing it along in case someone else out there needs it too. There is so much negativity, angst and fear in the world. So these days, I am looking for what’s good. Looking for the light and love. Looking for the helpers (as Mr. Rogers so wisely advised a generation of children.)1 Holding onto it when I find it. To help me through the sadness. And bring a smile.
SOMETHING GOOD…
On my walk in the woods, I came upon a tree.
A winter tree.
In a forest full of trees…
It didn’t stand out.
A twiggy little scrap-ling, in the misty early morning.
Easily missed.
But, upon closer look…
It’s a remarkable, magical, tree of life.
In the middle of nowhere.
Providing nature’s holiday cheer.
**(You may want to zoom in if you’re on your phone.)**
Think about this…Someone took the time to:
Make decorations from found objects in nature;
Climb a mountain with these delicate, perfect, treasures;
Find this little twiggy tree at the top;
AND DECORATE IT….
Whereupon one morning, a sad stranger, comes upon it… and marvels at it’s beauty and goodness.
I hope this brings a smile. There are helpers in the world everywhere. Providing small gifts and kind gestures where you least expect to find them, but find when you need them most.
Until next time my friends…
In the meantime, look for what’s good. You may be surprised where you find it. It could be staring you right in the face and you don’t even see it. Until you do.
What say you?
What have you been looking at, but not really seeing? Is there something in your life that deserves a closer look?
What’s been something good for you this week?
Have you ever done something like this? A random act of kindness, never knowing who might see it, or need it, but doing it nonetheless? For no reward, recognition or reason?
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping' Fred Rogers from Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood.
These forest findings seem like such sweet "glimmers". I've been through so many med trials with epilepsy... I completely relate to the push-me-pull-you "big" feelings. Something good this week has been arriving on the East coast... it's the first real quiet I've had in 6 months... it's like a warm bath. As kids in the early 80s, racing around on our bikes (like the kids from Goonies) my cousins and I used to decorate the woods... building little rock cairns, but nothing so artful as what you found.
What a sweet discovery.
I’m sure you had a bad reaction to the SNRI! That’s scary and I know how hard it is to recover from those medical traumas. Slow and steady and kind, that seems to be the best way to move forward when our bodies and minds are playing tug-of-war.
A blue jay is squawking into the sun outside my windows, his inky eyes like little black diamonds in the light. Yes, sometimes it’s the tiniest little things that sparkle with the irrepressible beauty all around us.