Stillness…the much under-rated, under-appreciated, highly accessible, ART - of simply being in the space you are in.

Trains of thought are extremely interesting processes. The inspiration for this topic dropped out of the sky as I was pondering the current task we are all juggling of trying to navigate Covid, being flexible to new levels, in a world of frequently personal as well as international upheaval … and we yearn for calm. We yearn for the renewal and sustenance of simple peace. I could go on at length about STILLNESS but as I investigated the topic further I found an abundance of resources that spoke to the issue. I would only be cribbing unnecessarily if I extracted pieces…so I have attached sites of interest for your own perusal, if you are interested.

https://ccisupport.org.nz/blog/stillness/

https://nautil.us/this-is-your-brain-on-silence-2251/

https://fullfocus.co/the-practice-of-stillness/

But what finally prompted my musings on sources of STILLNESS however, came from class recently. I was discussing a poem with a group of boys where the main character had been driving a car and hit a group of animals on the highway, resulting in ‘roadkill’. The question was: what kind of person would be engaged by a poem like this?

The answer that came with a joking smirk?

‘A tree-hugger’

And, in a flash, from out of nowhere, I found myself defending the benefits of the ordinary, yet extraordinary ‘tree’…the clearly unrealised and possibly ‘not so trendy’ but very real benefits of having some time with nature’s heavy weights; of spending time in the quietness of trees and their powers of rejuvenation – from clean, biological oxygenation to mental sustenance.

This incidental classroom trigger, crystalised my own epiphany of belief in the undebatable benefits of increasing our time in the timeless, rejuvenating, wise, stable and undemanding presence of trees.

What else can spend its entire life rooted to one place while everything else around it moves, passes, may or may not return, and makes no sign of complaint?

What else endures lack of choice so graciously?

What else endures all weathers from summer’s sting and even destruction, to winter’s biting cold, often while laid absolutely bare – yet endures?

What else can so capably be relied upon to demonstrate seasonal death followed by reliable rebirth from the smallest beginnings …again?

From where else can you both take hold of the earth and brush the sky?

What else provides shelter through impressive strength yet with the power to bend?

What else stands day and night, through light and dark, frequently for years on end, providing unspoken stability, consistency and sustenance, without thanks?

When it’s all a bit much … on an ordinary day, take a few minutes to be (with) a tree.