Here’s a new task to help simplify our lives and minimizing our households.
Challenge # 15: Tree Time
When it all gets to be too much, go spend time with a tree.
How’d it go:
I’m just starting this challenge, so I’ll recap next week. Over the Mother’s Day weekend, when I would have relished being celebrated for doing a hard and thankless job, I ended up cleaning house, cooking meals and taking care of everyone else like always. It made me grumpy, and when I couldn’t snap out it, I went for a walk in the woods. The forest floor still crackles with dried leaves, and new green shoots are just barely peeking through. I found a piece of fallen birch bark as big as a place mat, so I parked myself on it and leaned back against a cluster of birch trees, breathing, feeling and listening.
The clutter of home and life seems unmanageable at times. I’m frustrated that we have so much “stuff” and how much time and energy caring for all that “stuff” takes away from truly living. I long for simplicity and an easy-to-clean clean home. These weekly challenges are helping, but not quickly enough for my impatient mind. I do need to tackle a comprehensive de-cluttering project, but I also want to work on my impatient mind. The bugs are few, the dew hasn’t arrived, the birds are singing with spring’s gusto. This week (and hopefully beyond) will be about mind-decluttering.
I’m going to spend time with a tree; upwards of twenty minutes a day is my goal.
I remember reading somewhere that trees have a heartbeat. Some scientists have observed trees subtly moving their branches up and down during the night, which is purported to be the tree actively pumping water upwards in a slow version of a “pulse.” I’ve always felt there was silent wisdom in trees and that they’ll subtly communicate with us if we are still and patient. This week won’t be about proving that, but I will enjoy noticing the difference some quiet time with my back against a tree makes to my cluttered mind.
Kellie Knight’s “Angle Full of Grace” 