I broke the last part of a branch of a tree that was on my balcony, some days back for a purpose.
Often, I looked at the branch and sometimes felt sad that I did that because the beauty of it was marred. It looked like it was shriveling. But there was also an expectancy in me of how would the tree respond to this adversity.
This was a Gulmohar tree.
I had noticed something very interesting in the way the tree’s branch was growing. With every growth, the branch shoots out a node. At the node, there were usually two growth. One would eventually become a leaf the other one was like a small brown growth. But it generally would just be there. I remember wondering at this small growth. I wondered if it was like a cover for the leaf. Or was it something that just facilitated the growth and had no other use.
I got my answer after a few weeks.
What was intriguing in the branch’s end that I had broken is that these small little growths at the node apart from the leaf which I thought was useless had grown to become sub-branches themselves. This was exciting for me to see. I was truly glad to see the way the tree had this quality to respond to the adversity. The inbuilt ability to branch out from every node and keep the tree growing inspite of the adversity it faces.
This set me thinking of life itself.
Firstly, I wondered about how we grow. At every significant ‘node’ of life growth. Do we consider the immediate (the leaf) and the long term (the small growth that turned into a branch) vision of the growth step (node) we are taking? Are the potential and provision to grow into something beautiful and big by branching out inbuilt into the growth step we are taking.
Since the provision and the capacity was inbuilt in the node. The tree could respond so well after the shock of adversity. There was a time where the branch look withered in that part. There is a sadness in any loss. It hurts us. I am learning to grieve my losses well to be able to respond to the adversity well. I have been recently introduced to the loss-history graph. It is a effective tool to work through the loss we have had and also to process and set right the loss we have caused others. It helps the process of growing out of it. However, after a couple of weeks the branches sprung out and the speed of growth was fantastic – Two branched instead of one with so many leaves on it. The ability to respond to adversity or challenges was inbuilt in that branch.
This aspect got me thinking in three specific ways. My own habits of learning. How is our learning shaping us. When we are unable to learn that which we wanted, have we stopped learning or looked to branch out and look at other avenues and opportunities to learn in that area and grow.
The second aspect was the life itself, when we are met with an adversity or challenge in life, whether expected or unexpected. Whether brought upon my our own foolishness or somebody else’s scheme or by accident. What has been our response? Have we shriveled or have we branched out into something more beautiful? If you are currently going through a crisis? Are you starting to shrivel out or are you working to spurt forth into two different branches? If you are growing steady, are you building provision and capacity in the future steps(nodes) to respond effectively to adversity and challenges in the long run. If we do, we would not be surprised or alarmed by the future adversities, in fact we may see it as a chance to branch out even more.
Me and my wife also run a business- its called Muzicedu (www.muzicedu.com). It made me think very hard about the decisions on growth we are making. With each growth step, am I seeing the short-term vision and benefits only. I must confess this is the mistake I am making. I don’t see the long – term vision and benefits and the possibilities. Also, I don’t think I have ever thought of creating potential in every growth step, if need be. Since all the small growth at the node don’t become a branch, but there is a provision and potential for it. And if need be with a little time and training it could become a beautiful sub-branch. I am hoping to work on it the coming weeks of how we could become a company like that. If I do that I would certainly not be alarmed at adversity or challenge in the long run but rather embrace it and grow with it.
I had a taste of it during the Covid season. We are educators in western music (www.muzicedu.com). We are primarily a in-person in studio learning space. When Covid hit, we just didn’t know what happened. We were hoping in the initial stages it was for a few weeks, so we suspended all our services. But since in the past we had done and had been doing online lessons for Learner’s outside Delhi, we decided to take that route after 2 -3 weeks. There was provision and potential in the setup in this adversity. So we got going. In fact, in the Covid season after the initial setback we have started to branch out and flourish again. Just like the branch on the tree.
Also, these qualities of the branch allow the tree to respond to the opportunity of the access to sunlight above. It is not unusual to see the tree growing towards the area where Sunlight is available. Does our growth allow us to respond to the opportunity in the present and in the long-term.
Do we have the provision and the potential to respond well to adversity and opportunities that are present or that may come our way?
I believe we all could glean insights for life from that branch on the tree. I hope this write-up gave you hope and encouragement to go on and branch out well. Thank you for reading.