My life as a tree

Deep and lasting transformation comes from the inside out.

When we’re connected to our core essence, vision, purpose, values and empowering beliefs we are no longer a victim of circumstances, but empowered to chart our own path.

We get stuck when we look to others for our answers or are consistently shifting ourselves to accommodate others.

But after years of living up to others expectations and caring for others it’s hard to remember who we were before everyone told us what we should be.

I didn’t even know I had an essential self until I was 40.

When I started my coach training program they had a preparation packet much like I invite my new clients to fill out today.

In it are prompts and questions to help to reconnect to ourselves, values, strengths, guiding principles.

The last prompt irritated me.

“Describe yourself as if you were something in nature.”

I’ve always hated ‘creative’ writing. I remember taking a break and coming back to the question.

And then writing this:

I stand above all others.
I’ve been here for years. Rising up to the light.
My branches drape gracefully from my trunk. I feel the wind rustle the tips of my branches ever so lightly.
I am heavy with the afternoon rain.
My dark green needles absorb the moisture and bring me life.
I am home to the birds, a dark safe place to raise their young.
On warm days the children appear swinging and climbing on my branches.
I am their favorite toy, a staple of their life.
My roots dig deep anchoring me and them to this place we call home.

As I read it in my class I realized by describing myself through the tool of this metaphor I was able to gain a more intimate knowledge of my true essence beyond my personality and roles.

Even when I read it ten years later it makes me a bit emotional. It touches upon my soul’s truth.

What object in nature would you use as a metaphor for yourself? Why? Take a minute and write your own description. I wonder what you can uncover.