Nudged: Touch trees on a walk

Good grief. Where did this wacky idea come from?

It might have been inspired by The Island of Missing Trees, a beautiful novel by Elif Shafak that was one of my favorite books of 2023. One of the characters is a fig tree and…well, it just works.

Or maybe I was thinking about an article I read in National Geographic a couple of years ago about how trees are interconnected, how they communicate, how they support each other and thrive in community. (Sorry I can’t find it to link it.)

Or maybe someone said something to me about the benefits of hugging trees?

Well, we’ll see where this Nudge leads. At the very least I’ll be outdoors, exercising, and delighting my senses with all Nature has to offer this season.

What Happened: I notice a lot of things when I’m out walking: cloud formations, bird songs, other people’s dogs (whose names I am better at remembering than their humans’). But unless a certain tree has recently burst into bloom or its leaves have turned in the fall, I take them for granted and walk on by.

This week, that changed. I noticed. I stopped. I touched. And I spoke to them. “Look at your buds!” “You’re beautiful!” “Thank you!”

To small, recently planted trees, I wished them perseverance and good luck as they take root. As I caressed the weather-beaten bark of older, more established trees, I thanked them for their service, their wisdom. Is it weird that I felt them respond with a light energetic hum? Nope. It was a beautiful experience.

The Ah-Hahs: Beauty comes in all forms. Lean and tall. Twisted and gnarled. Green, brown, every color in the rainbow. Just look and you’ll see.

All it takes is noticing. After seeing this in the trees in my neighborhood, I reflected about how the same goes for my neighbors. People are beautiful. How lucky I am to live in a place and time that values and celebrates diversity.