Small Wonders: Taking Pauses and New Perspectives
Over and over again we talk about what a wild, unexpected, and insanely long year it’s been. And over and over again, we keep trying to hold ourselves to impossible standards of keeping it all together and doing everything well. How many of us have actually taken a moment to pause, think, and reflect on current circumstances? How many of us have cut ourselves even an inch of slack, admitting that not everything can always go well?
Photo by Enikoe Bihari
Maybe this isn’t the experience you’re having. We hope it’s not. But at Tacoma Tree Foundation, we’re tired. This year has been defined by a constant need to stretch ourselves in new directions, to find new ways to communicate, and to look for ways that we can continue to realize our mission to educate, empower, and support community members in tree planting and greening. We have stepped up to the challenge by starting two webinar series (Growing Skills and Intersections in Environmental Justice), creating a youtube channel and populating it with videos, and planting and sharing trees (over a thousand and counting) with community members and partner organizations. But, all that stretching and adjusting (or as it is more often called these days “pivoting”) is strenuous. It has involved some failed experiments, a lot of late nights, and a need to surrender to the possibility that some things will move slower than we want and sometimes things won’t turn out as we had hoped. Nonetheless, we can persevere if we take the time to rest.
We’ve been thinking a lot, and this is what we’ve decided: it’s ok to lay on the ground for a bit before you get up. Especially in the forest, the ground isn’t such a bad place to be. From the ground, you can get a new perspective--it’s easier to see how a tree’s canopy spreads and shelters when you’re underneath it. It’s a great way to look at trees and sky without craning your neck.
Photo by Enikoe Bihari
We miss a lot of small things when we’re on the go. There isn’t always time to stop, pause, and take in something very deeply. There are always several competing demands for our time and attention, which limits how well we can actually focus on one thing. That’s why right now, we’re encouraging everyone, ourselves included, to take a moment and intentionally look at something new. While we encourage people to look at trees (we are Tacoma Tree Foundation after all), there’s a lot of other really cool stuff happening in the forest.
Take mushrooms. They’re so cool! And a lot of them have great relationships with trees! To get all excited about science with y’all: Mycorrhizal fungi are fungi that have symbiotic relationships with trees. The fungi live on or inside the tree’s roots and convert nutrients in the soil into a usable form for the tree. In return, the tree gives the fungi carbohydrates that it’s made from photosynthesis. Golden chanterelle and boletes are common mushrooms that have this relationship to trees. Other mushrooms are crazy good at using dead or decaying trees as a food source; the technical term is saprotrophic. This means that even fallen trees don’t go to waste. Oyster mushrooms are saprotrophic; their fantastic taste is brought to you via all the trees whose growing time has ended.
When you’re focused on what’s ahead of you, staying on the path, avoiding big rocks that could trip you up, maybe squashing a mosquito or two, it’s easy to miss the small things like mushrooms that are all around you. We get it. We frequently miss the small things too, and need constant reminders to pause and take them in.
We encourage you this month to give yourself a moment of rest and quiet, to observe, feel at peace, or just be. Lay on the ground if you need to, look at some sweet mushrooms, and then get up when you feel ready again.
Photo by Enikoe Bihari
If you’d like a starting point for some good nature-based reflections, here are some questions to ask yourself the next time you have a few minutes:
When you go outside, which of your senses are you most thankful to have?
What do you see that’s green outside your window? What do you think when you see it?
The fall reminds me of…()
What is a new perspective of a common sight you see? How does this change what you think about it?
Where have you felt most at peace this year?
If you have kids at home and would like to add in some nature based education to their routines, check out our Nature Explorers program. It’s a monthly lesson that includes prompts and activities to let kids explore nature while also having fun. This month is all about Douglas firs, and next month is focused on how trees communicate (hint: it involves fungi!). So invite the young people around you to learn and explore with us!
We’d love to hear from you about what you’re seeing and thinking. Tag us @tacomatreefoundation on Instagram or Facebook, and stay well!
References:
https://www.treesatlanta.org/news/mushrooms-and-their-relationships-with-trees/