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I Want To Be A Tree

I Want To Be A Tree

A way to trust the process

Douglas Finkelstein
May 23, 2024

5 minutes to slow down, laugh, and share something in common. Every Thursday.

Today’s Setlist

🎩 One Theme → I Want To Be A Tree

😄 Funny Business → A real comedian

📊 Community Poll → We gotta stop sneezing so much

🤝 Help → Name my business

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I Want To Be A Tree

(If you like this post, you’ll love this one on Nature Math.)

On April 9th, the day after the eclipse, I partook in a magic mushroom ceremony.

This ceremonial experience centered around two major themes. The first: Go slow to go fast.

The second: Disney World. Did you guess that?

I flew from Disney World to Toronto to view the eclipse, partake in the ceremony, and visit Othership. Theme parks exhaust me, and this solo adventure in Toronto rejuvenated me.

Toronto was my personal Disney World, and the mushroom ceremony was one of my favorite rides!

In actual Disney World, I Marvel-ed at the Home Tree from Avatar.

Wow. What a tree!

In my Disney World (🍄), I realized that Home Tree exemplifies how I see myself.

I even added a lil’ Home Tree to my logo!

I’ve been a connector all of my life, and professionally since 2020 as a community manager. I love nothing more than introducing people to the person, resource, or tool that may help them get where they want to go.

I prefer not to be prescriptive by saying “This is what you need!” Rather, like Home Tree, I offer many branches and paths to explore, and trust you will naturally follow what calls to you—and end up exactly where you hoped to be.

A way to trust the process

My goal is to live a life with more stillness, and my biggest obstacle is feeling pressure to move things along quickly. More quickly than reality (i.e. nature) has dictated they will move. I know a lot of us feel that pressure—it’s societal.

The way I have best found to trust in nature’s timing—to go slow to go fast—is to surround myself with more nature.

Home Tree sure as shit didn’t come to be in a day, a month, or a fiscal quarter.

Bamboo, a highly versatile grass, requires consistent watering and considerable trust, as described in this Chinese parable.

Orchids, one of the most beautiful flowers, need year-round care to bloom for 1-2 months.

Nana doesn’t fuck around on Watering Day.

Our most recent Full Moon Celebration took place last Friday. A first-time attendee shared her thoughts with me over the weekend. After changing her name for privacy, I cherry-picked a few relevant insights from her email:

…it was the most I've ever been able to relax and just be in and listen to my body…While I knew the body was listening and following the instructions being given, my mind was elsewhere. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once.

If sparkling could be a feeling, that's what it felt like. I love that I was able to take part in this beautiful celebration and hope to hold onto this feeling of peace 🌸

-Esmeralda Greenberg

How do we hold onto that feeling? Find our Disneys. Keep watering ourselves. Like Home Tree, bamboo, and orchids, you will grow strong and mightily into your destiny on nature’s timeline. Trust in nature.

😄 Funny Business

📊 Community Poll

Note: There was a software glitch that made me unaware of your written responses to the previous polls. Now that it seems to be working, I’ll shout out interesting responses!

Thank you Steve M., Bonna H., Joel F., Micaela B., Jesse F., and everyone else who’s been submitting further insights! They’re fun to read.

Results for last week’s question: When you sneeze, how many times do you usually sneeze?

I’m in the twos too. I always felt the first one was the big clear-out, and the second was for any leftover demons that needed to be blessed. Curious how many the 5+ people have…

Joel F. wins top comment, giving Giacomo from last edition the attention he deserves.