After the retreat - Dressing Like a Tree!
My book group met here yesterday and they all exclaimed upon seeing me on how dressed up I was. I realized I had dressed like a tree, like the forest. I had gathered the greens and golds I'd been absorbed in, and was wearing dangling earrings of soft burnished gold, and a flowing top of multi-colored soft forest greens, and flowing gray pants and golden shoes. In some way, I was capturing the light as it came through the redwood trees. Those are the colors I want, the draping of light, the softness. I dress the same today.
I also notice bruises. The last night I was there, when I was returning to my tent, I took a tumble and fell down the hill. I got off my usual path, and slipped, rolled and stopped. I got up and felt unhurt and proceeded along, but now I see the bruises on my right leg and arm, and I feel even more like a tree, because if you look at the redwoods, those tall stanchions of the forest, they, too, have wounds. Mine will heal, and their's will too, and I am happy to feel like a forest, a tree. I hope I carry that light, that play, that twinkling joy, that peace, that rest.
I also notice bruises. The last night I was there, when I was returning to my tent, I took a tumble and fell down the hill. I got off my usual path, and slipped, rolled and stopped. I got up and felt unhurt and proceeded along, but now I see the bruises on my right leg and arm, and I feel even more like a tree, because if you look at the redwoods, those tall stanchions of the forest, they, too, have wounds. Mine will heal, and their's will too, and I am happy to feel like a forest, a tree. I hope I carry that light, that play, that twinkling joy, that peace, that rest.