Time Passes Differently In Trees

Slower, in a way. Somehow more…right, I guess. You know how it is, when you find a tree that you really connect with, and you climb up in their branches to read or write or meditate or just be. And you can be up in that tree for what feels like hours and hours and hours, and you end up sorting through so many thoughts and you come down feeling right, and inspired, and balanced – but then when your feet hit the ground and you return to the world, it hasn’t been nearly as long as it has felt like.

It’s magical. Truly like climbing into another world, somewhere, hung between earth and sky where time runs slow and true.

This photo is the cottonwood tree in my parents’ backyard (a ‘male’ Fremont, also called Alamo, Cottonwood). I’ve spent a lot of time up in these branches, and learned a lot there. As a Colorado native, cottonwood trees have always spoken to me – the way that something so tall and striking and brave can grow in nutrient-poor soil under a sun that shines 300 days a year and rainfall is relatively uncommon. This tree has taught me a lot about how to send my roots deep in the earth and carry the stars in my branches, and I owe quite a lot to them.

I love this tree, but when I came to University, even though it was only twenty miles away, I realized that since I wasn’t going home very often, I needed to find another tree. Not to replace my cottonwood friend, but to help me learn and grow and stay connected with the earth and my environment. Even though I’m lucky enough to live on a campus that is also a registered arboretum,  it took me almost a year and a half to find a tree that spoke to me in a similar way as the cottonwood. Finally, I found a beautiful, old English oak who seemed to ask me to climb into their branches and stay awhile.

There have been so many times since I’ve found this tree that I’ve been rushing off to class, hardly ten minutes to spare and I’ve walked past this tree, and felt the sudden call to climb up and visit for a bit. I always think ‘Not now, not today, I haven’t got any time’. I usually end up  climbing up anyway. Whenever I do, I learn so much. Things settle down in my mind just a bit, and it seems like I can finally really breathe and think. And with my feet back on the ground, I feel grounded and centered, and – what do you know? – only a couple of minutes have passed, and I still manage to get to class right on time.

This post isn’t really about me and the trees in my life (although it kind of is). This is a post to remind you that time passes differently in trees. This is a post to remind you of the most important trees to you – and if you don’t have an important tree in your life, this is a post to encourage you to find one.

Mostly, this is a post to suggest that even if you’ve only got a moment or two a day, you should seek out some time to sit in the branches or at the roots or beside a Very Special tree, and in those one or two moments, you might just feel time slow down and learn more than you realized was possible.