This photo shows their unique root system, which starts a couple of metres above the ground before continuing underground. These trees earned their name by their ability to grow new roots on one side of the tree whilst roots on the other side die away. A slow process for sure (I was hoping for something more the like trees in Lord of the Rings), but over time these amazing trees can move to areas of more sunlight, better water sources or less debris on the forest floor.
Rob Bell, an author and speaker I mostly enjoy has a phrase he uses a lot, he says "Go where the life is". I cannot think of a living thing that demonstrates this better than the Walking Trees of Peru.
Now, I write this post painfully aware that often my life does not show the kind of maturity and intentionality I would like it to (just last night in a team meeting my words were "I'm pretty sure I have failed as hard as it's possible to fail at taking time to rest this month"), and those close to me have witnessed my continuing battle to live honestly in the way I say I want to. So I don't write this presuming to have mastered it, but rather I write as someone who has come a long way in the past few years and perhaps has something that could be valuable to share.
I see a lot of folks living in ways they don't actually like, and often they would be the first ones to tell you so.
I'm too busy and never have time for my family
I don't like my job
I wish I could get fitter but I'm too lazy
I don't ever get outside as much as I'd like
I wish I had deeper friendships but we just never spend time together
The house walls are an ugly green colour
But for some reason we stay in these circumstances that we don't like... I think sometimes we assume it can't change, or that this is how life as an adult is, isn't it normal to be over worked and stressed and not really like our lives? We consider ourselves to be so much more powerless than we truly are and therefore remain as we are, playing the character in a story that other people with more power seem to be writing the script for.
As a recovering people pleasing overflowing schedule addict, (note: this recovery process often feels like one of the those awful dreams when you are running in slow motion then right before you get to the end you are suddenly back to where you started) there has been one practice which has been a total game changer and helped me start making choices and changes to build a life that I actually really enjoy living in and am proud of.
Self interrogation. Yes. On a regular basis I sit myself down and interview myself about my own life. This is not really a normal person thing to do I realise that, but I also don't really want a normal life so I'm willing to get a little out of the box about it.
Every three months, I sit down with a list of about 20 questions that I crafted and I answer the same questions each time as honestly as possible. If you are interested, let me know, I am more than happy to give people these questions to use as they want to, but for the sake of space and internet privacy, I won't put them all here.
Some examples though so you get an idea...
Who are the five people I spend the most time with and what effect does this have on me?
What are the parts of my everyday life that are life giving and what parts are draining?
What am I passionate about?
What would I like to be better at?
Who are seven people I want to be intentional about building relationship with in the next few months?
Then when I have answered them all, I ask myself what changes or action am I going to take as a response to what I have been thinking about. I never try to enact all these changes at once, but slowly over the three months following, I attempt to integrate those changes into my life.
I cannot overstate what a difference this has made. It has helped me identify parts of my life that I am just doing because I feel I should, I can see things that would benefit from more focus and things that are not important to me anymore and are able to be released. I see healthy and unhealthy relational patterns, ways that I am growing and difficult choices or conversations that need to happen.
In fact, I saw so much healthy change in my life as a result of this over the past two years, that a few months ago I began a weekly, much smaller version of this. Each weekend I answer around five simple questions which help me make meaning from the past week and set direction and intention for the following week. Please understand, this is not so I can be more productive and fit more in. That's actually something I'm actively trying not to do, and one of my weekly questions is "What is something I give myself permission to let go of and not worry about doing this week?".
This method of being intentional about your time and energy and abilities is just one way of doing it... and I'm sure others have incredible stories of other ways of doing the same thing (which I would love to hear about). But I know how this discipline has given me perspective and freed me to pour my energy into the things that are really important to me and to stop wasting time on things that aren't.
So, my friends, be encouraged. You have more power than you ever thought possible. When you begin to own your story, you realise that you can write it how you want, you're not in grade nine English class anymore.
Go where the life is. If you find life in art and creating, build it in. If you find life in family and homemaking, make that the priority. If you find life in business and career, then go for it with all of the ability held inside of you.
As you place down new roots closer to the life you seek, allow the old roots to die away and over time you will see how the tree no longer stands in the same place it once did.
