Be the tree

A friend recently was describing the difficulty she was having with choosing between all the options in life. Having to decide on a direction. To determine a possibility. Choose between all the things she wanted to do. She spoke about how she felt paralysed by the decision. She felt a little panicked. Frightened that by choosing one she would miss out on the others. She was afraid they would all disappear while she was trying to make the choice. And she would be left with nothing.

She used a powerful scene in Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar to describe the feeling. The part where Plath writes about the fig tree. Best I hand over to Plath at this point for a little bit.

‘I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.’

My friend said she felt like all her choices were beginning to ‘wrinkle and go black, plopping to the ground at her feet’. I encouraged my dear friend to look at the situation from another perspective. Maybe take the lower fruit first. Eat it and allow it to nourish you so then you can reach higher into the tree, or even have the energy to climb the tree, to reach the fruit up above. Do in life what you can reach, to begin with. Let it feed you and give you what you need in order to reach, later on, further and higher.

Prior to this part of the conversation, we had been talking about the course I am launching next year, Myth and Manifestation, where you rewrite a myth, which is significant for you, to manifest what you are seeking in life. ‘My goodness!’ I exclaimed!’ ‘This is your myth, your myth to rewrite.’ And my friend agreed and promised that she would do that very thing.

Weeks later when having a coaching call with the fabulous Georgia Ellis of BlueChip Minds, I was sharing my idea for my Myth and Manifestation course and relayed the conversation I had with my friend. It was my example of how a personal myth could be a modern day myth. How our personal myths do not have to come from ancient texts or tales. As I explained my friend’s dilemma using the powerful imagery of Plath’s soul-baring storytelling, and how my friend might rewrite this myth, Georgia responded immediately with three simple words. Three words which had such a profound impact I nearly tumbled to the ground, falling off the chair I was sitting on. Georgia has that effect, most brilliant coaches do.

She said, ‘Be the tree.’
I said, ‘What?’ She had said it so softly and knowingly, I thought I missed it.
’Be the tree.’ she repeated, slowly.

We sat in silence for a bit while this landed and I took in the enormity of what she had just said. And then my mind was off. Running. Like it does when something just completely makes sense to me. Of course, be the tree. Be life, rather than watching life. Rather than sitting next to it, feeling anxious as the fruits of life ripen and fall to your feet. Be life creating the fruit. Creating the opportunities. Be the tree. Your roots firmly in the ground, nourished by the soil around you. Soaking up the sunshine and the rain. Be the tree. Let the wind rustle your branches and leaves, breathe in what is around you and breathe out what you want around you. Be the tree. Fruit your creations. And let any which fall, nourish your soil, to feed your next season of fruit.

I am grateful for Georgia’s wisdom in those three words. Another gorgeous simple mantra, with beautiful imagery for me to hold and carry as I step into the world each day.

Be the tree.