The Wisdom Tree

Immediately upon walking out, the cool breeze bites at my skin. At the same time, the sun shines down and slightly warms my body. Thus quickly making my outdoor experience very pleasant. Once you step out, if you look up you can see the sky is completely rid of clouds. The very clear sky boasts a medium blue hue, but only while looking straight up. However, if you look into the distance it seems as the though the blue in the sky gets lighter and lighter. As the sun beats down, it illuminates all of the plants that stick around throughout the winter. In addition to this, the fresh leaves that are just blooming take this sunlight and soak it up to their greatest advantage. These leaves starting to come back marks the beginning of springtime in many ways. The air is crisp and clear, making for a much-needed deep breath full of rich morning oxygen. The trees around me stand skinny yet tall. Once all of these leaves bloom to their fullest, it will make for coveted shade in the summertime. Although any one birds’ chirping is quiet and peaceful, the collective yet differing songs of these birds allows one to sit back and listen to natures version of surround sound.

While looking around, I happened to find an incredibly tall and very wide tree. The majority of this tree is just trunk but once you get about three-quarters of the way up, the branches begin to stem out. The branches on this large tree are about as big as a couple of normal-sized trees. As the tree continues upward, a split towards the top begins to form. Once the tree gets to the top, it splits off in two directions. The part of the tree that goes straight up appears to be dead. There are no leaves on this part, or on the branches that stem off it. The wood on this straight part of the tree also looks like it has been beaten down, and is most likely a dead part the tree. The second part branches off to the left. This part of the massive tree grows taller, has leaves blooming on its branches, and looks very healthy. It is safe to assume this part of the tree is alive. This tree has a lot of character. At the base of the tree, the thick textured bark has many holes all around the tree as if something was trying desperately to get inside. These holes disappear the farther up the tree you go. The bark of this tree wraps itself around the tree almost like a very thick protective layer. The tree has more of a sand-like coloration at the bottom, as opposed to your traditional brown tree. As you move towards the top, the tree gets darker and looks more like your traditional tree. The tree is about 17 steps around, and is probably around 50-100 feet tall if not more. This is not a climbable tree. This is because it goes straight up with no branches for most of the way up. This tree is surrounded by dead leaves from last summer, and dirt rather than grass. It has become clear to me that this tree is very old, thus probably making it quite wise. I will seek guidance and knowledge from this tree that has lived the equivalent of many human lifetimes. Being able to sit down and analyze my surroundings has already made a positive impact on me, and I am sure it will continue to affect me in the best of ways as we go throughout this intensive. I am excited for this intensive mainly because it will allow me get to know my surroundings more deeply than I already do. Additionally, it will allow me to pay closer attention to nature as the seasons change right before our eyes.