‘Be Your Own Tree’ by Rowena J Ronson

What would happen to our homes if they were not built with strong, firm foundations? Over time, with the multiple stresses that both internal and external influences create, cracks – both large and small – would be likely to form, and perhaps there might be subsidence too.

Is it not the same for the beings that live in our homes as well?

We might manage our soul’s little wounds by plastering them over, maybe with a distraction or two, or even a hefty splash of denial. Without even a thought for the cause, the wallpaper goes up, and with it too, the mask. Everything all looks pretty again. And if that doesn’t work, of course there is always escaping, in all its forms, to further disconnect us from what we are unconsciously running from.

But what sense of self have we shaped that can actually hold us together when we are shaken to our core? What keeps us standing upright, when all we want to do is surrender to the fall? What internal network do we posses to support us to rebalance and remain authentic, healthy and whole?

We build our awareness, and therefore our strength, by resisting plastering over the cracks life creates, and by questioning why they have formed. We dig deep, we learn, we feel, we heal – and by doing so, we develop and nourish our spiritual and emotional roots throughout our entirety.

So the next time our home, our world – our very self – is caught in a storm, as a result of those secure and well tendered foundations, we will find ourselves not cracking but holding firm; not breaking but bending and returning to centre; not crumbling but strengthening through and through.

Be Your Own Tree