Our roots keep us grounded
I remember drawing this tree from a work of art by a friend and artist who took beautiful photographs of the natural world.
When I drew this redwood tree, I couldn’t help but feel its strength. Like its energy came directly from the earth with no plans but to reach the high sky. The perspective in the drawing kind of feels the way it does when you stand near the base of the tree and look up.
When I think of experiences I’ve had being at the foot of a redwood tree, with my hands gently on its trunk to help stay balanced so I can look up into the sky, I can almost feel my knees wobble - partly being in awe, partly with vertigo from the sheer immensity of the tree’s height and power.
In the photo that inspired this drawing, the tree was shown alone, and at the time, I was moved by this description of trees by Hermann Hesse because I felt a solitary, but not separate, strength that I think is so poetically captured in this passage from his collection of writings:
“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.“
1920 collection of fragments, Wandering: Notes and Sketches (public library)
source: brainpickings.org
TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE THEME
EPISODE 18 - SEASON 1
Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and interconnected by a unique root system. The etymology of the word strength means to string together. The roots of redwoods are strung together so the trees are stronger together.
EPISODE 11 - SEASON 2
Blood memory can be described by your ancestral and genetic connection to language, songs, spirituality, and teachings. Your ancestors are in you all the time and everything they experienced is in you. And you have an opportunity to heal and grow in each moment. This week we are joined by Arella Trustman M.A, a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe of Nevada who shares how we can move from victim to survivor to hero. It’s not always linear, but it is possible.
Having a little fun with this digital drawing of an owl, the moon and a tree. It is set in the darkness of night when the portals of imagination open up for us to wander through. The owl is loosely based on a drawing from the late 1700s by Kitagawa Utamaro, a Japanese artist.
The original pencil drawing of this redwood tree came with a message of strength, which is why I think this owl appeared. There is something in the silent darkness of the owl’s experience that feels like the essence of strength. Though strength often manifests in bold and physical ways, the source of strength feels like it is born out of the quiet darkness within ourselves - like the darkness this bird intimately knows.
EPISODE 48 - SEASON 3
What if you could harness the power of sound and nature to experience true coherence in your life? Join us as we celebrate the release of our new album, The Garden of Joy, and discuss our unique collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum and the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. We share our journey from spring to summer, exploring adaptive leadership, building team culture, trust, vulnerability, and even touching on a tea ceremony in the Bay Area.
Strength is one of the 39 Gratitude Blooming themes that we explore to help our community keep gratitude front of mind.
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