Trees to shape and shade your life story

Whichever way you see yourself, trees are a perfect metaphor for personality, the writing process and to shape and shade your life story. Writing it is to create your tree of life, testing the strength of you own bark skin.

LIFE STORIES UNDER A BOABAB OR A JACARANDA

Behold the shade that a tree gives in the heat of summer. Shade to linger and ponder, to read a book or observe the world passing by.

A cool breeze stirs the leaves, releasing scents and sounds.

Perhaps a hadeda or turtledoves are keeping you company.

The tree`s sheer bulk and size is a comforting, grounding presence.

Because we have nature on our doorsteps, it is easy to go out and find your writing tree.

TREES AS A METAPHOR FOR PERSONALITY

In design, the tree of life is large, with roots and branches enclosed in a circle. The roots of the tree almost mirror the spreading branches, providing balance and symmetry. What does your tree look like?

Some of us are topiaries, writing and creating life as perfect as our exterior.

You might be wayward as a fever tree or fruit-bearing like a marula.

Others have grown tired of being constricted as a bonsai. We long to free our roots and find fresher soil.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TREE OF LIFE

Explore the significance of your own life.

“The tree of life represents, at times, the source of life, a force that connects all lives, or the cycle of life and death itself. It is typically planted at the centre of the world, often within a sacred garden or forest. In science the tree of life is often used as a metaphor for the connection between the diversity of all life on Earth.”

ANNIE PROULX ON NATURE

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx always writes about our tempestuous relationship with nature. Her masterwork, Barkskins, is an epic, dazzling, violent, magnificently dramatic novel about the taking down of the world`s forests.

“In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit… before one cut a tree, mined a mountain, or dammed a brook, it was important to placate the spirit in charge of that particular situation, and to keep it placated.”

MAUREEN DUNPHY: CULTIVATING RELATIONSHIPS WITH TREES MAKE US TRULY HUMAN

In sixteen essays, each named after a species of tree, Maureen Dunphy explores the nature of human-arboreal relationships, and how each of these trees has—literally—served as a friend, a confidante, or a place to rest. Beyond providing oxygen, food, and shelter, trees can be sites of emotional refuge, sources of intellectual enrichment, and a boon to physical, mental, and spiritual health.

MADHUR JAFFREY`S CLIMBING MANGO TREES

In her memoir Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India, Jaffrey’s graceful prose and sure powers of description paint a vivid landscape of an almost enchanted childhood. Her family and friends, the bittersweet sorrows of puberty, the sensual sounds, and smells of the monsoon rain, all are remembered with love and care. 

TREES TO SHAPE AND SHADE YOUR LIFE STORY

As a child one of my favourite books was Boom, bomer, boomste, by Elsabé Steenberg. The main character, Philla, is just as tempestuous as her grandfather, who believed that God made trees as the crowning glory of nature. I always wanted to be Philla.

When last have you spent time under a favourite tree? How can you translate your life story into your story tree of life? Remember that, as an author coach, I am here to explore your writing with you!

Like author Call Newport reminds us: “Start small and start immediately.”