EE Story: The Little Lonely Tree

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There was once a little tree growing in a sparsely populated forest. The axeman had cut down most of the other trees leaving only their stumps behind and the other young trees that remained were so far away that the little tree felt quite lonely.

Then one day, the little tree spotted a little boy. He was with a little dog and they were both playing with a ball. The little tree enjoyed watching the boy and his dog. It was normally so boring in this part of the woods and the boy and his dog brought the tree much excitement.

Day after day the little boy came along with his dog and day after day the little tree watched the boy from afar. Then something strange started happening. One of the little tree's low branches started growing out ever so slightly, bit by bit every day it grew longer until one day the little boy walked right up to tree, climbed the tree and sat on the low branch which was strong enough to support his weight.

The little tree was quite delighted. Within a few more weeks, another branch, higher up, had grown strong enough so that the boy and his father slung a swing on it which the boy and the tree enjoyed immensely.

But then, one day, the little tree's worst fear manifested for the little boy had to move away. The little boy came and told the tree he had to go and he even cried and hugged the trunk of the tree, wrapping his hands around the tree's slender trunk. The tree did not want the boy to go but the boy, his father and his dog never returned after that day.

The little tree was  quite distraught and to make matters even worse, the horrible loggers came along one day and cut off the the tree's two longest, sturdiest branches which the little boy used to sit upon and swing from. The tree heard the loggers speaking amongst themselves. They found it quite strange that the branches from the tree seemed so mature when the tree was still so very young.

The little tree went into a depression.

She pulled all of her remaining branches and wrapped them around her body and drew up all of her roots onto herself. She purposed quite resolutely in her heart to wither up and die.

One night the Moon was out in her glory, shinning full and bright and the tree was sleeping when suddenly she heard a great thundering clap from the skies. Upon awakening the tree could not believe her eyes. She was surrounded by dense foliage and a strange, eerie light from the moon. All the trees that had been cut down, were standing tall around her.

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What is the meaning of this? How ever could this be? The older trees have all come back! Was she dreaming?

Then with one voice the other trees spoke.

"Yes Little Tree, you are dreaming. In the morning when you rise, you will still only see our stumps. We chose to visit you in dream time because we have a very important message for you."

"Wh-what message is that?" the little tree asked very timidly.

"Life is a gift which you must cherish and you are not doing a good job of that right now" the Great Spirit of the trees responded.

"Why should I? The loggers with their axes are just going to come and cut me down anyway and it's so lonely here. There is no point to life because there is no one to love!" the little tree replied in a frustrated tone.

"You must first learn to love yourself."

This made the tree pause. She had never considered loving herself before. Just then though she remembered the loggers again.

"Ok - fine! I can love me but what's the sense? As soon as I grow big and strong the loggers are going to come and cut me down. I'll still end up dead - just like you!"

Just then a mighty, rushing wind blew and kicked up all the leaves and branches around the little tree and the apparition of the great old trees completely vanished.

The little tree remained quite still, wondering if maybe the Great Spirit of the trees would speak to her again. She remained there waiting and hoping but when she realised they would not return she began to weep mournfully and fell back to sleep.

The next morning, the tree awoke with the rising of the sun and looked around at all the tree stumps around her. Memories of her dream from the night before came back to her mind and an unspeakable sadness threatened to flood her soul but then a persistent wind started to blow. It blew and blew and blew and many of her few remaining leaves jumped off of her and played merrily with the breeze.

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In that moment the little tree heard the voice of the Great Spirit of the trees and it asked her,

"Are we truly dead, little tree?"

Finally the little tree understood. 

Death is a choice that is presented to you with every day but you don't have to take it and those who choose to live life fully and truly every single day and in every single moment - never, ever really die. 

And so the little tree purposed to live and she remembered what the Great Spirit of the trees told her - that she must first learn to love herself.

The little tree looked at her drying branches and knew that she needed to spread her roots to find more nourishment. She also knew that she had to dig deeper to find greater reserves of water and so she did that.

Gently, day by day, the little tree began to unfold her branches, reaching them up into the sky so that her leaves could better absorb the life giving powers of the beautiful rays of sunshine.

It was such an ironic thing, for in living life abundantly she actually made herself more and more vulnerable. For at any moment the axeman could come and see her growing big and strong and decide to cut her down!
Yet, the tree knew that her spirit would go on, and resting securely in this knowledge the fear of the axeman eventually disappeared.

http://fineartamerica.com ~ Trude Janssen

There was another thing too in that the more she practised loving herself, the more she yielded herself to the wonderful experiences of life and in so doing received many opportunities to love. Love made a full circle!
Birds started nestling in her branches and little animals came and found rest and shelter around her.
Even random human families trekking their way through the woods would stop to picnic at the base of her trunk, and several children climbed into her branches.
Someone even found the old swing from the first little boy she loved and re-hung it onto one of her many strong branches.

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Oh and she never cried when it was time for her visitors to go. She understood truly, that some like the little boy who she loved so long ago, would only be in her life for just a short while and that some she may only ever meet once. So she aimed to appreciate every moment and every encounter and to trust that the Universe will send more her way in time.

She learnt the art of loving fully in the moment, without attachment.

And yet another miracle was slowly manifesting around the tree. Other little trees that were once afraid to grow, were taking encouragement from her and grew mightily so that the once sparsely wooded area was now a beautiful thriving forest again. The tree soon had many friends all around her.

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The tree was happy and her heart was content... but she never forgot the little boy she once loved.



One afternoon, the tree spotted a lovely couple - a man and a woman. There was something familiar about the man even though the tree took a while to understand what it was. The man walked his female companion right up to the tree, and threw his hands around her trunk and laughed heartily when he realised that his arms could no longer encircle the great big tree.

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It was the little boy all grown up now! He had never forgotten his favourite tree but was now a conservationist - which is a big word that basically means that he had secured a piece of paper (go figure!) that declared that this region where the tree grew was now protected.

Apparently he had secured this paper several years ago but had only now secured enough of another type of paper to buy a small acre of land quite near to his favourite tree where he intended to raise his family.

The man had a guitar and the woman had a lovely voice and together they would make the most beautiful music beneath the tree to the pure enjoyment and entertainment of the tree.

The tree's heart was so full, it felt like it would burst and yet the tree never forgot the lessons of her ancestors - every time she heard the thunder clap, or saw the leaves playing with the wind or felt a gentle breeze - she remembered her ancestors and she knew that one day she would have to join them but she also knew that she will do so willingly and gladly, without fear.

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"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

~ 1 Corinthians 15:55

Dedicated to my fellow Selena Mooners 

Inspired by the Unity Breath as taught by Drunvalo Melcizedek

In love and light always,

Elizabeth Energy