Reflections from the Red Kayak
I intended to write this piece about being uprooted a while ago. But I didn’t. Why? Because I have allowed the tumultuous, external events of the year to cloud my focus. How about you?
Henry David Thoreau’s quote seems to encompass what we are feeling this year, both as individuals and collectively as humanity. We are lost and we have been challenged to dig a little deeper within. Many of us have accepted the challenge to understand ourselves better and have taken this opportunity to look at our lives in a new and different way. Many of us want things to go back to the way they were, and as quickly as possible! As the uprooted tree shows us, there is no going back.
This uprooted tree sits on a tiny island on my lake. I love to teach by this tree. It is like the giant blackboard of life. Sometimes, I kayak out to this tree and just float and ponder all the exposed elements-roots, rocks and twisted bits of this and that. This is, to me, what our lives have become. All things familiar have been upended and what lies underneath has been exposed.
Those who have paddled here have shared their thoughts on the lessons from the uprooted tree: the big rocks represent big events in life, the twisted roots show family connected together, the thick roots show our strength and the thinner roots our weakness. Life’s journey beneath the tree.
Upon closer inspection, we see these foundations of the trees’ life that held it to the ground for many years. These elements are its history. Its story. Our story. The strong winds of change uprooted this tree and fundamentally altered its life. Sound familiar? The tree no longer clings to the ground, to what was known, but allows all that was once hidden to be seen. And it is not afraid. This tree has died now, its way of being in the world changed. So, too, displaced parts of our lives are moving on.
The universe is asking us, I believe, to dig deep into the soil of the inner ground that has sustained us, and to make the choice to evaluate our inner landscape, keep what is working and discard the rest. To accept that we, like the tree, have been toppled over and are being prodded to detach from an old way of being and realign ourselves in a refreshing new direction.
On the jacket of Marianne Williamson’s insightful book, The Gift of Change, it reads, “In this honest and uplifting book, bestselling author Marianne Williamson delves deeply into the powerful role of change in our lives today. Far from being something to fear and avoid, she says, every change – even the most difficult and painful – gives us an opportunity to receive the miraculous gift of personal transformation. The only real failure in life, she observes, is the failure to grow from what we go through.”
Look deeply at this close up of the uprooted tree. See the openings of light coming through it and around it, representing our window to personal transformation. We examine what’s beneath the uprooted tree, to study what has been. And then we look through, to see the light that lies beyond. To notice the openings in our lives. To find ourselves again. To imagine what we can now become.
What do the roots and rocks underneath the tree represent for you?
Where do the shafts of light lead you?
How do you, in this changed and uncertain world, begin anew?
Mary Anne,
December is a struggle for me because of a great amount of loss experienced during this month. Most years I embrace the memories, share my love and thoughts with family and close friends. Isolation this year has created a challenge that limits these gifts. I accept that this too shall pass and that in that acceptance I take myself into places I didn’t want to go. There exists even more strength to find contentment in being who I am, contributing where I am able, and loving those who become mine – friend or family they are mine. Thank you for your mindful thoughts and inspiration. Paddle on, dear Mary Anne!
Thanks to you, my friend, I have spent some very valuable introspective time floating in front of that tree. I have a sign in the guest bathroom that says “Don’t look back. We are not going that way.” I like the sign but believe that looking back to examine our past experience (not to pine to return to it) is an important ingredient in entering the future having learned from the past. Life is a fabulous adventure for sure!