'I never saw a discontented tree.'

I love a stomp around the woods in the morning.  When I do it, I remind myself of the importance of getting into nature, even if just for a short while. I work from home, so if I don’t get out in the morning, I can be somewhat homebound.  So, it is important for me to get out. How do you start your day off in a way that nourishes you?

In the woods there are various signs with quotes from John Muir, who is famous in this area. This sign is not too far from my back gate (I love having a back gate in the garden almost as much as I love there being a train station in the town – what’s that about?)

Anyhow, not far from my back gate is this sign:

‘I never saw a discontented tree.’

It makes me smile and sometimes it stops me in my tracks.  Don’t you think that the simplest of words can hold such wisdom?

But these words can hold different meanings for me depending on the morning and the full quote brings more into consideration.

This morning I read in this that trees have a long life and go through many transitions. But on other mornings I have read ‘fast-rooted’ and ‘travel about as far as we do’ as a comment about how little humans can travel – physically and mentally – in our lives. At other times, the sign softens my mood (especially if it has been ‘a morning’ with the kiddos). 

Sometimes it is a call for growth.  Those are the mornings where I walk with a cheeky spring in my step back up the path towards the house.  Those are the mornings were everything is possible.  Those are the days where I grow, even if to the outward eye I seem fast rooted in the house.

We need to be ready for those moments and coaching continues to be a safe space where people can grow. At the very least it is a place where ideas can be spoken, truths can be whispered, actions can be set.  It is also a place for profound conversations, unlike those you have elsewhere in your life.  You can get to understand your root system, what nourishes you and learn more about who you are, who you want to be and where you are going.

Those are the conversations where we grow, even if to the outward eye we might appear the same.