Ara Ara’s Mind

I’m not sure what I expected from “The Secret Therapy of Trees”. Maybe the science behind touching a tree or going outside on your lunch break. I did not expect the truth of that book to hit me in the face all at once. Just from the introduction, I began wondering what being human really meant. To fully recognize the vicious cycle of stress we are stuck in. That our reliance on electronic devices removes us from what our actual reality it. Suggesting to use nature as a way to reflect on ourselves and gain the power to break our cycle. These things were not beyond me before, but I always struggled to explain them. They have been too complex emotions for me to put in words.

We see ourselves in nature. Good and bad. The trash scattered in the grass and the birds hoping branch to branch. Nature has been an constant in our lives. And like us, they have been forced to adapt to their surroundings. Sometimes that means waiting to fall into a river or to bloom flowers before it is actually time. Meaning that as we choke this land with pollution, litter, and injustice, we choke ourselves with the same thing.

I feel so naive talking about all this. I know slowing down, observing, and nature are not things that come easily to everyone. No one can force you to stop, think, and take in your surroundings; you have to want it for yourself. You have to face yourself unafraid of whatever you might see. Breathe through the pain and accept it as it is. It’s hard not to only see your failures or the opportunities you missed. It’s difficult to watch the world spin out of control and have no way of immediately fixing it. But I am only the person I am today because of the things I have chosen to learn from my experiences.

I know that I am connected to this Earth. Just as I am moved by the sea and supported by the moon. I am made of the same matter and atoms as the land I stand on. Whether Jehovah created the world or if this all exists in a vacuum. The Earth forces you to move in a certain way. You can be impatient with your computer for not loading fast enough. People can even pressure people into moving at the speed they are. But nature is not something you can control. It acts on it’s own time and speed. Nature does only and purely what it needs to do. There’s no way to get it to change or stop.

I need room to create; to innovate. I’m getting tired of just surviving, just scraping by. I think there is more to this life I am living. The presence and reminder of nature is proof of that enough. Once, this planet didn’t exist and now it does. I just so happen to be on it, miraculously. So, maybe my dreams are not that far fetched. What I hope for is not some crazy pipe dream. There is real change, real connections, and real magic that can take place if we want it to.

Nature is life. The trees are living and breathing as we are. Wind moves the only way it knows how. Water collects where it’s needed. Why can we not do the same? Move how we need to move. Do what we need to do. Feel how we feel. React how we react. What I feel is as real as the sun hitting my face or me pushing against the wind. How I feel is mine alone to carry, but if I avoid it, it’s bound to become everyone’s problem.

We treat the Earth how we treat ourselves. That’s why it’s covered in trash and suffocating from pollution. Care for yourself, and maybe that will change how you care for the world around you.