If I Were a Tree and You Were a Forest Animal

I decided I am a Maple Tree. As fall approaches here in Ohio and the leaves are just slightly starting to turn jeweled tones of red, orange, and yellow, the color of the Maple leaves are always my favorite. It is a magnificent display of warm crimson tones that Mother Nature chooses to paint the earth with as she teaches us to let go of what no longer serves our highest good in preparation for what is yet to come.

“Be like a Tree

Stay grounded

Connect with your roots

Turn over a new leaf

Bend before you break

Enjoy your natural beauty

Keep growing”

~Joanne Raptis

The Great Maple

The Maple Tree has many varieties, and I think I relate best to the sugar maple. Although most have roots in Japan, and the Japanese Maple is a close second favorite. I have always been enamored by the beauty and tranquility of Japanese gardens.

The Sugar Maple is very useful. It is tapped in mid-winter to produce sap which is harvested to make maple syrup in the spring. And its timber is strong and used to make furniture. So, it is not all for show. That is me, I am more than my exterior. I have great depth, usefulness, and the power to give more than I receive.

“In a forest of a thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” ~Paulo Coelho

Turning the People, I Know into Insects and Forest Animals

Hmmm… now this is an interesting superpower when I think about it. If I had the power to do this for a week or even a day, I could see what people are like. Who would be the woodpeckers, the snakes, the wise owls, the gentle deer? Who would be the ants working hard for their colony? Who would be the spiders weaving intricate webs?

I can certainly identify several people in my life.

• My daughter would be a hawk, swift, graceful, perched high on my branch. She would not cause my tree any damage, instead, she would use my fallen sticks to build her nest always remaining near but spreading her wings and eager to fly free at will living independently.

• My son would be a buck, a leader, bedding at the base of my roots in my leaves mixed in with pine needles from nearby trees. Again, he would cause me no harm and roam surefootedly on his own with his keen sense of intuition.

• The love of my life is the wise owl perched on a lower branch. Beautifully white and watching over us. He has the power to keep us safe and the wisdom to know when to use it. He too never harms my tree.

• Then there is the woodpecker who hastily bores holes into various parts of my precious bark. Does he know how much it hurts that he picks me apart? It does not matter. I now realize it is time to let him go.

• The snake who slithers up and around my trunk now and again I realize is harmless. She is there serving her purpose, eating the mice, and just trying to survive herself. She is harmless. So, she can hang from my branches.

• Some of the butterflies I recognize so beautifully as they used to be little caterpillars crawling up my trunk and down my branches. Now they have transformed. They are sharing their beauty with me and inspiring me to spread my branches even wider.

I look around from my tree and I see the forest differently. Each being has its place. I am suddenly reminded of my first big yoga conference. I went to a three-hour intensive class with Sharron Gannon, which was amazing, by the way, she would be a dove in my forest. She asked by a show of hands who was familiar with the Sanskrit chant “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” and out of close to a thousand people, only about two hundred raised their hand. Sharron was appalled and I was frightened. As a new yogi, I felt ashamed I did not know it and also, ashamed I would even have attended an intensive that was so out of my league. She insisted before we even start the yoga portion, we partner up with someone who had their hand raised and learn the chant. She gave us fifteen minutes and then called those of us who did not know it up to the stage to chant it in front of everyone else. I was not comfortable being the center of attention on stage at the time and was completely terrified. However, I never forgot the chant and to this day it is one of my favorites.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu which translates into:

May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.

As a Maple Tree, I feel as I shed my leaves, I provide nutrients for the soil and help plants prepare to grow in the spring. As a human, I do my best to give love, gratitude, and time to those I love and random acts of kindness to those I do not yet know.

“As you awaken to your divine nature, you’ll begin to appreciate beauty in everything you see, you touch and experience.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Perspective

It is certainly interesting to take ourselves out of human form from time to time and take a different perspective, like a tree. When I go deep into the forest as a human, particularly when I visit the Pacific Northwest, I am reminded of how small I am, or how small my problems are in the big scheme of life. I am comforted in the cradle of Mother Earth’s Playground. I learn a lot from nature, and it calms my soul.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed this perspective on letting go of the people who no longer serve a purpose in your life or who may be draining your energy or resources. Please respect and love yourself enough to set and enforce boundaries, listen to your intuition, and never settle for less than you deserve.