Trees are fascinating and so easily dismissed when seen in passing. A brief glance shows a forest with splashes of colour, a cacophony of branches spreading with bits of light dappling through. In the Spring before the leaves appear the starkness is on full display in contrast to the hope we hold in our hearts for the colourful blossoming coming. On an overcast afternoon walk the bleakness threatens to grasp our steps reaching out from the vast network of roots under the forest floor. Imaginations are pulled to the horrors that darkness and the unknown can hold. Our eyes avert the looming nightmare that will grab us from the edges.

Walking was supposed to lighten my mood and that’s when the thought opens a new lens that notices the vast network not as a whole but as individuals revealing the teeming life exposed. I am drawn to the cracks in the bark, the lines that spread, the variations of colouring, the lichen and mosses that are attached in different places, the vast diversity that is revealed as I get closer. I am hooked and soon venturing off the beaten path to meet each moment of discovery with the awe it truly deserves.

Each crack, each break reveals the curiosity that I hold, the longing for immersion in a moment, an opportunity to be with life gifted. Letting myself be pulled into this warm embrace is what I call, “feeding my soul”.

I will acknowledge and celebrate the spark of fear/gloom. It is my early warning system to WAKE UP, LIFE IS NOW. Gratitude is flowing…

The pattern on this broken tree revealed a horse’s head (to me), you might see something else.