Trauma & Trees

If you have been in session with me, I’m sure at some point you have heard me talk about trees and trauma. It’s a metaphor I use to help us understand how we are impacted by trauma and chronic stress. It goes a little something like this:

“Imagine a tree growing around a fence. You notice that the tree accommodates the fence and the tree grows around the fence. You watch as it blooms and grows and flourishes every year. We know that the fence is causing a rupture in the tree, but because the tree continues to bloom, we don’t really notice anything from the outside, however, we know that the tree is impacted. It has a rupture, maybe many ruptures inside.

This is us.

Imagine now that you are a tree and the traumas, stress, and hard stuff you have experienced are the fences. Some of us have many fences, some have very large fences, some have smaller fences, but we all have fences. We are all accommodating our fences in different ways, and for most of us, we live on and are able to go through the motions of life, so no one really notices our pain. We seem okay on the outside, but on the inside, we are in distress. We are suffering in some way, and sometimes, in many ways.”

I use this metaphor as a way for us to see that we are all connected. That we are very much more alike than unalike (Maya Angelou definitely said this one better.) I use this as a way for us to connect to one another, and also to encourage kindness, compassion, and hope. If we nurture our similarities, give each other empathy and encouragement, love one another, even amidst the suffering, pain, and overwhelm, we can help to build the beautiful garden of humanity that is all around us everyday. 

Remember that life is a series of decisions. You wake up, make one choice, and then another, and then another. There is always room for the next choice you make to be nourishing, supportive, and caring for those around you, and maybe even, for yourself too.

Be Well, My Friends.