It's a beautiful day to go into the woods. I have no intentions of a hike, it's more a journey I'm out on, a Tao walk. Letting my body decide where I am going. Where will my feet be placed? What draws my attention? Where do I spontaneously hold still?
Suddenly my hand reaches out for a piece of death tree. The wood is falling apart as the tree is already in a further stage of dissolution. The following message comes to me:
“When we truly feel that we are part of a larger whole, then there is no grief over lost lives, over everything that ends, or something has broken, lost or disappeared. It's all part of letting go.
A fallen tree does not cry over it is lost alive. It falls and it slowly dissolves. In the process of dissolving the physical tree, it feeds other creatures and organisms. While they in turn help with the dissolution process. The tree, both when it is alive and when it dies, is an important part of the chain, the circle of life.
The identification with the body makes us vulnerable; we can get sick, injured or even die. Clearly, when one of these events happens, it would affect us, the identity attached to the body.
But when we see ourselves as something greater, which is part of the whole, just periodically presenting a part of us in this body, to enable ourselves to take part in this physical dimension on earth, then there is no death, no falling apart or dissolution at all.
The only thing that happens is that 'we' go into another phase, another way of existing. Then death is a transformation from the physical state of being (including the associated identity) to the next state of being, whatever it may be. Basically, we are melting back into the universal intelligence. Although we have never been separated from it. So 'melting back into' is not really the right way to put it. But this image is easier to understand for the mind.
So let's say that death is the ultimate experience of letting go. But also during the course of our lives, we are able to let go of the identification with the identities associated with our physical presence. ”
So far for my conversation with the dissolving tree. What a wisdom! I'm so grateful for this inside, which has been shared with me.
When I created the Leaves earrings, I knew they were all about letting go of what does not serve us. But I could not have imagined that this 'letting go' can be even greater than letting go of situations, contexts, relationships and - last but not least - all the stuff that we have collected.
Letting go of our identity by realizing that we are part of the whole, that is big!
-> Leaves gold
When we connect with nature, we can sense how 'small' and unreal all the boxes and labels are that we put ourselves and others in. Let's start letting go of them. Who are we regardless of these labels?
The labels themselves may seem harmless, but there is an expectation of a certain behaviour attached to them. It limits us to living freely and fully as we really are. Making new choices every single moment, letting go of the parts that feel too 'small'; that no longer suit us.
I hope that my writing inspires you.
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In case you resonate with what I am saying, and you'd love to support my business, but this isn't the right moment for you to buy one of my creations. You can still support me by spreading the message and by sending me a donation. You can already do so from the price of a cup coffee.