Tree Hugging is Good for the Soul

I have loved trees since I was child playing in their shade and climbing up to our makeshift treehouse in the grove. One of the things I love about living in Minnesota is the bountiful trees and forests. Even in the Minneapolis area where I live there are more trees than where I grew up in Iowa—so many parks, lakes, and green spaces here to enjoy.

There are also wonderful parks and wild areas all around Minnesota where you can hike among the trees. This time of year is usually quite bleak with most of the trees having lost their leaves. But this year our fall weather has been very mild and leaves still cling to the branches of some trees.

“To be poor and be without trees, is to be the most starved human being in the world. To be poor and have trees, is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die

Yesterday under gray November skies I visited the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to hike and see what color remained. I was pleasantly surprised by several colorful areas. And even the bare tree limbs were beautiful to my eyes, allowing me to see the bones of the forest.

I hugged a tree yesterday and it felt so good. In part I was thanking the tree for it’s beauty and presence and in part I was soaking in the tree’s presence and benevolence. Perhaps I anthropomorphize, but I almost always feel a sense of benevolence and peace emanating from trees.

Try hugging a tree sometime soon. (You can do like I did and pick a time and place where no one sees you if you feel silly.) Alternately you can simply stand and lean against the tree soaking up its goodness.

May you walk in beauty.

Other photos from the Arboretum yesterday:

Iris in bloom in November! I’ve never seen this before!

Colorful crab apple treetop

Sturdy evergreens covered with pine cones

One lone young tree clinging to it’s leaves. Perhaps it doesn’t want winter to come.

November Skies over bare trees, evergreens, and a few with colorful leaves remaining

Beautiful ginko tree carpets the ground with yellow in the Japanese Garden

More colorful crab apple trees

A note on The Good, the Bright, and the Beautiful Series of blog posts: I committed to a 30-day practice during November 2015. Each day for 30 days I committed to notice, write about, and photograph (if it can be photographed) something that reminds me of what I call “The Good, the Bright, and the Beautiful.” I believe that focusing on the positive and spreading goodness, light and beauty is the best thing I can do to change the world. Join me by noticing kindness, goodness, and light in your life.