Be the Tree

Dearest Readers,

Yesterday I received a couple of emails regarding the Big O Project that made me want to poke a stick in my eye so I shut off the computer and went to have a rest. My brain, however, wouldn't stop thinking so I got up and went to my friends' empty house and watched an hour of television.

Television is something I rarely look at. I don't have one and the only time I get to see what's on TV is when I stay in a hotel. Believe me, this is not about being noble. I'm actually a TV addict and abstinence is the only cure. I used to watch it when I didn't want to be watching it. TV is an energy-sucker and I would get sucked in for hours.

As we all know, there is a lot of crap on TV but there is also good television. When I turned the box on yesterday evening it was tuned to PBS, the American Public Broadcaster, and the show that was airing was Ken Burn's The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Vanity Fair magazine had recently published a story about Teddy Roosevelt, the President who managed to secure so much of what is now National Park land in the US and I had read the article with interest. The part of program that was airing when I tuned in was describing precisely the same information as the VF piece had, which was a lovely bit of synchronicity to calm me down.

One particular shot from the show has stayed with me until this morning. A photograph of a group of men, Roosevelt and his entourage, standing in front of an ancient sequoia tree. Of course, you cannot see that it is a tree trunk behind them because it is too huge. It looks like a wall of bark. The camera simply couldn't capture it's breadth. The narrator tells us the tree is estimated to be 3500 years old.

When I get emails that make me want to poke sticks in my eyes it is of great benefit to me to remember things like 3500 year old sequoia trees. Ancient, steadfast, lasting stillness. It was here long before me and it will be here long after I'm gone. True Power. True strength.

When I measure the day-to-day minutiae of my life against the enduring Power of Nature I am humbled by how small my "problems" really are. What is really important? Yes, my work is important. But when I remember that my life is but a blink of the Universe's eye, everything is put in proper perspective and nothing can rattle me.

Inspiring Message of the Day: I will not be shaken or stirred by life's "problems". In the face of frustration I will emulate the Power of the steadfast Sequoia.