Rootedness

Becoming mindful of your rootedness can help in times of uncertainty. This week we will allow the trees to be our teachers of withstanding the storms of life. Knowing you are rooted brings a sense of inner peace.

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus said, "If you feel rooted in your home and family, if you're active in your community, there is nothing more empowering." 

We have all had weeks of being home-bound to return to a sense of rootedness in home and family. Many people I talk to are grateful for a reminder that time at home with family is one of their most important values. 

Julia's idea of being active in community can feel far away right now. However, the more I consider it, I think we are finding new ways to practice community. Zoom is now a verb and a noun in our vocabulary. Gathering in parks, lawns, beaches, and driveways six feet apart is a new normal. Online churches, classes, and happy hours are connecting people from all over the globe in a new way. We can still be active in community, it just requires a little more innovation and intention. 

Rootedness is empowering. Knowing we are rooted may take some practice. Here is an imagery exercise to help you find wisdom among the trees...

Rootedness - An Imagery Exercise

Take a couple of deep breaths to tune into your body and release tension so that you can be fully aware during this practice. 

Bring to mind a strong beautiful tree that you have seen at some point in your life. Maybe a climbing tree from childhood, one you noticed on a vacation, or a tree currently in your view. 

Let the image of this great tree appear in your mind, sense its size, height, and characteristics. Now picture yourself standing near this tree as it becomes your teacher today.

Sense the roots of the tree going deep into the earth. Notice how the roots serve to balance the tree through wind and storms. Consider how the roots anchor the tree into the earth during hard days and gentle days. Allow the tree to teach you how to feel a connection to the earth. Like the tree, you have roots into the earth where you are right now, at this place and time. Consider your rootedness into your place and purpose. 

Allow yourself to finish this sentence: I am rooted in ________________________. 

Now sense the trunk of the tree. Consider the strength, growth, and steadiness of the trunk. Consider how rootedness contributed to these qualities. 

Allow yourself to finish this sentence: With rootedness, comes ___________________.

Now notice how the tree stretches to the sky toward the sunlight. It bridges the sky to the earth. Consider how its branches and leaves change through the seasons and over time. Sense how the tree remains steady through changes. 

Allow yourself to finish this sentence: Amidst change, what remains is my ____________________. 

Listen as the tree invites you to consider your own strength, your own steadiness, your own rootedness. You too are flexible when the winds blow. You too are connected to the nourishment of the earth, sun, and sky. You and the tree share the same life force. You both have a pulse. You both already have everything you need. You and the tree are connected to all of nature. 

Allow yourself to finish this sentence: What gives me life is ___________________. 

In the words of Irish poet, John O'Donohue:

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

These are the last two stanzas of a poem that John wrote for his mother, Josie. You can read the full poem here and you can read more about John's work here. 

May you remember that you are firmly rooted as this pandemic storm passes through. 

Sending you love and peace,