Near Kerikeri,
New Zealand, where I'm staying, there are several forests I visit frequently. One of them is the Puketi Kauri Forest. The forest is an important part of the New Zealand Meditation Tour I designed.
In the Puketi Kauri Forest, Kauri trees stand in groups on about 37,000 acres of land. Some of the trees are over 40 meters tall. Four or five adults holding hands can barely stretch around the huge, straight trunk of a large Kauri. The energy put out by Kauri trees—many of which have lived at least 500 years, some for over a thousand—is primal and magnificent. I get why the Maori people of New Zealand consider the Kauri a sacred tree that links heaven and earth.
I'm in the habit of going for slow walks along paths that wind through the Kauri trees of the Puketi forest. Whenever my head is a tangle of busy thoughts, I walk these paths. Then,
my breathing deepens, my thoughts subside, and my mind grows more flexible and calm. I often visit this place when I need a new plan or design because when I come to the forest, it puts me in an energy state capable of making good decisions.
Having lived the equivalent of many human lifetimes, these Kauri trees seem to have the power to
awaken naturalness within us.
A sense of natural life, sleeping beneath the superficial and artificial, awakens when I'm with these trees. I feel my most
natural self as I really am, not the self that has been packaged to look good to others. Power and wisdom and
creativity come from this self.
Those who give everything they've got to completing and expressing who they really are, without losing themselves as they live in the world, are like the strong Kauri trees. Although we always work hard to become "something," ultimately, what we seek to become is our
true selves.
I learn how to become wholly myself in the Kauri forests of Puketi. Only those who have become fully themselves can design their own lives and become the masters of their own destinies instead of living by designs drawn by others.
All trees can, in fact, awaken the nature within us. This week, spend some time with the trees around you and see how they help you find yourself. I'd like to hear what you felt from the experience. Please share it in the comments below.
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