As Above So Below: Natures Reminders of Beauty and Balance

Photo of magnificent tree at lakes edge, Holter Lake Dam, Craig, Montana (2006). Copyright SJPhotography.

As Above, So Below: Natures Reminders of Beauty and Balance

Oh, what a journey life is. The ups and downs, and contrasts of highs of lows, and darkness followed by illumination and clear skies. There are times when the sun shines, and my heart is light and open, and ready for more of life. But just as soon as the light is at its zenith it can explode into a million pieces and the world darkens, and the weight of a tiny fragment of life shackles itself to my ankle and pulls me into a deep abyss. My heart shuts down in habitual form as its survival mechanism and I am left alone in the murky, spinning chaos of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Lost in the past with my body in the present. Struggling to know what to say, how to act, what to do, who to call – it is a broken record of the same old responses. Trust is not a luxury here because there is no one to lean on and no one who can help me in these times. Hope becomes a frivolous word and notion to even contemplate after repeated disappointments. This is CPTSD – this is complex trauma, and this is also life. It is a roundabout that gets played out time and time again. It is easier now to allow what is and let it all move through, and try and bring love and compassion to what is arising that frightens and uproots me. Now I ask why is this arising again. What is the wisdom in this? What don’t I understand yet? What am I still holding onto that is creating this play of drama and reactions?

The deep wells of sadness and despair shift eventually and give way to vast openings, awakenings, and immense love and gratitude for life. It is the cycle of life that brings relief after deep suffering and upsets after joyful events. There is balance in all of it, whether it is accepted, wanted, received with happiness or not. This last decade has pushed many to deeper depths of grief and sadness than they had ever experienced before. But it has also provided an equal proportion of great heights of respite, elation, insight, and gratitude.

Having played in and studied nature for years, and how it maintains its balance, and exquisitely mirrors life – it is clear to see the deep meaning of contrast in life’s dance, and the overview of being able to see a distant flickering star in the blackness of space – without which I could not see its shining brilliance. When life has tossed reason and sanity to the wind – nature is always there to remind us of truth, and provide beauty and balance to the weary heart.

For their part, trees have a near-perfectly mirrored root system below the surface. The roots follow and match the drip line of the outside edge of the leaf canopy. Whether the canopy is round and symmetrical or conical in shape, or even mishappen and leaning to one side the roots will take on this mirror image below following the water and nutrient drip line from above. Imagine the most giant tree with its extensive foliage and how broad and robust the roots below must be to sustain it, and keep it anchored in the fiercest storms. There are no thoughts of reason, worth, entitlement, privilege, or feelings of lack in the life of a tree there is simply being and equilibrium, and how the unseen supports and maintains the seen, and vice versa. There is a reason for what is above to match and balance with what is below.