Picture a large majestical tree. We could just acknowledge a single leaf, and fixate on it, cooing over the leaf, identifying every detail. If we look at the big picture though, we also need to pull back and realise that there are other leaves, and they are attached to branches, some small and delicate, some large and weighty, and in turn a whole tree with multiple branches and thousands of leaves. The tree has roots we can’t even see, fixing it into the earth. We would never be able to appreciate fully the story of the leaf if we hadn’t noticed the larger vision of the tree as a whole. Likewise, we would also never understand with our focus on just a leaf that the tree has roots, that are deeply set into dirt, that are part of a larger ecosystem. That the leaf actually receives it’s nutrients from the sun above it and from the dirt and water at it’s roots.
So when we nurture the tree from the roots up, we can be assured that the rest of the tree will survive and grow splendidly. Our minds are much like this. We tend to focus on all the little details, dancing from leaf to leaf, bough to branch, and not nurturing what is below, creating the entire thing. What we think we become.
Meditation enables you access these ‘roots’ of the mind. A daily practice gives us the spaciousness of mind to know where to direct it. To nourish what is below the surface. You can access the engine room below, where everything is all at once happening, and tap into your greater consciousness. Then once you are done, you can stand back and relish and enjoy the entire tree for what it really easy, through your now clear and unbounded vision. This gives us clarity, perspective, grace and is utterly vital is such a dynamic time as in which we live in now.
The quote above is from a truly remarkable teacher and spiritual guide, a guru, who created the mantra based meditation technique that we teach and practice, and this particular quote I hold close to me when I am too focused on a single leaf and fixating on something unimportant!
Sent with love,
Jac x