Growing Tree of Life newsletter
#014
20 April 2023
Reading time: 2:46 minutes

Today’s email will be a little bit different.
I wanted to write about those moments when you think that everything is lost. About the moments similar to what I went through after I lost everything.
You see, I don’t agree with those who say: “Nothing is real.” “There is no good or evil.” “Everything is based on the point of view only”.
Yes, they have a point in the sense, that your point of view —how you reframe your situation— has a big impact on your ability to act. But it’s not because the things are not real. It’s because you change how you approach them.
Anyway, for today’s newsletter, I aimed to explain how even the seemingly worst circumstances are not an end but rather a chance of a new beginning. And I wanted to add an image.
What image would be more appropriate than an old tree stump that sprouted again? I mean, this is the “Growing Tree of Life” newsletter. A cut-down tree that sprouted again is the perfect example of the principle I wanted to talk about.
So I looked online for some images and I came across this =>

The image is perfect.
It was taken by Anna Hillman and she posted it on her blog here. But she didn’t just post the image. She wrote an amazing song which she posted alongside her picture. I must admit, I have found myself singing along from the first line.
I just have to share it with you, so here is her full post:
Wandering by this tree stump the other day, I was surprised to hear it singing softly to itself. I listened intently, and have jotted down what I remember of the words (sing along to a tune of your choice, or of the stump’s choice):
‘At first, I was afraid, I was petrified,
Kept thinking, I could never live without the rest of me,
They’d come ‘n chopped ‘n lopped, with growling saws ‘n big strong arms,
They thought I’d die; but they’d triggered me deep inside.And now I’m back, from deep despair.
I’ve small shoots sprouting from my solid stump, I’ve grown myself new leaves.
Was it my roots? Were they too strong? A threat to pavements all around?
If I had known for just one second, could I have grown them differently?It took all the strength I had not to wilt away,
My limbs hacked off, left cold, bare, leafless, hungry and exposed,
No chlorophyll to make my food, my butchered soul was faltering,
I used to cry; but now I hold my leaves up high.I didn’t know it, ’til I needed it,
I’d such reserves of strength lying dormant, hidden deep within,
A little voice, it whispered “Hey! Your epicormic buds are here,
We’ve been saving up our growing, now it’s time that you need us.Grow on now, grow, push through your bark,
just don’t give up now ‘Cause you’re not beaten anymore,
Here we are to help you, let’s reach up for the sky.”
Did they think I’d rot? Did they think I’d give up and die?Oh, no, not I, I will survive,
I know I can regrow my leaves, photosynthesise again,
I’ve got lots more life to live, I’ve got oxygen to give,
I’ve got will to live, to hope, to love, I will survive!Hey Hey.’
Anna Hillman
Do you hear that tree stump too? Its pain? Its fighting for survival? And the first change? A new life coming through?
As I said, this newsletter is a bit different. It is shorter and most of the text is copied from somewhere else. But I don’t care. I am not writing to boost my ego. I started this newsletter to help people like you improve their lives.
I don’t know if you needed to read this today. Actually, I hope that not. But one day you might be in a situation where you will feel like you can’t survive. Or you can meet someone who will be in such a situation.
And I hope that when that day comes, you will remember the image of the cut-down tree stump singing along “Oh, no, not I, I will survive,…”
Till next week
Lubo
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Thank you for reading.
See you next time.
Lubo
Image sources:
- tree-stump-sprouting-again_anna_hillman_amazingness: Photo by Anna Hillman from Amazingness blog