For plants, being ‘grounded’ is their natural condition: half of their ‘bodies’ (their root system) is at all times buried into mother earth and it tends to be as big – or bigger – than the part of the plant we see above ground.
For humans, it’s not that clear that we also need to be in contact with mother nature – not even the toxic fumes of our industrial society seem to bother most of us (and that’s the air we breathe!) while we are so busy within our brains, rules and logic. As a society, we eat altered and processed food that gets sold to make corporation’s maximum profits, not certainly to protect our health; we dump all sort of pollution everywhere on the planet; we don’t respect our own rhythms, for example not taking enough rest; we spend too little time following our body’s advice and we get too stressed.
For a tree, it is clear that it needs to follow the nature’s rhythm. It can’t do any other way. A tree doesn’t run. It’s never in a hurry. It doesn’t get run by ego nor it acts by emotions and impulses. It is so dependent on mother earth that it does not feel separated from it and, if you pull it out of mother earth, it dies.
We feel unbounded by similar limitations but, besides being roaming human beings and not plants, we are also part of nature and we also have to surrender to and flow with nature’s rhythms. Slow down when needed. Regroup. Heal. Treat the earth with respect – and respect ourselves (the two go together).
For a plant, in its simplicity, this is obvious but, for us, not so much. We sometimes get lost in and confused by our emotions and we need to break the flow of our thoughts and tune in to our bodies and their needs (something we don’t get taught to do… in fact, just the opposite behavior is promoted) to find our calm, our center, once again.
This is expressed very beautifully in a passage of Antoine de Saint Exupery’s masterpiece: “The Little Prince”:
[…] The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals, a flower of no account at all.
“Good morning” said the little prince.
“Good morning” said the flower.
“Where are the men?” the little prince asked, politely.
The flower had once seen a caravan passing.
“Men?” she echoed. “I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult.”
“Goodbye” said the little prince.
“Goodbye” said the flower. […]
Which ways work for you to get grounded, when your head is spinning out of control, when you are overwhelmed – or (better) before you reach that state? Why don’t you suggest them in a comment (here or on the corresponding Facebook thread) for others to try out as well?
