Growing stronger roots
Today, I started my day with gardening work. A small harvest of potatoes that we grew in a few buckets (our small recession garden) and it felt so good and grounding to do that type of work. We work in the garden on some week nights and weekends and every time I get there and work with soil and plants for at least 15 minutes, my anxiety alleviates.
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“There is such urgency in the multitude of crises we face, it can make it hard to remember that in fact it is urgency thinking (urgent constant unsustainable growth) that got us to this point, and that our potential success lies in doing deep, slow, intentional work.” - adrienne maree brown
So, let’s get back to why the roots are the most important part of a tree. Conceivably, this is where the tree equivalent of a brain is located. Brain? you ask. Isn’t that a bit farfetched? Possibly, but now we know that trees can learn. This means they must store experiences somewhere, and therefore, there must be some kind of a storage mechanism
... See morePeter Wohlleben • The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World (The Mysteries of Nature Book 1)
Instead of digging its roots deep and solitary into the earth, the oak tree grows its roots wide and interlocks with other oak trees in the surrounding area.
adrienne maree brown • Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
to be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul - Simone Weil
I think that skills for growing stronger roots are:
nurturing social connections- roots are interconnected
resting- roots are inactive for some periods
collaborative & accepting- fungi and tree roots forming mycoryzal networks
connecting with the ancestors- deep roots
doing things that are self-satisfactory (for your own internal motivation rather t
We need to set our roots deep. Bare feet in the dirt, looking up at the sky. We need to spend time sitting around a fire together. We need to spend time co-regulating. We need to stretch, do yoga, do qigong, meditate, contemplate, sink into the rich texture and fabric of our experience. We need to remember and help others remember that we are human... See more