The bull ride of nature

High up in the distant tree tops, the leaves were feverishly dancing in the wind. Visually frantic, it was like watching a silent film whose storyline wasn’t clear yet.  Too far away to hear their rustling, I could imagine the cinematic, classical music that would accompany their choreography.

Then the curiosity began. Do leaves ever feel afraid of heights? Is that much thrashing around enjoyable to them or are they just as challenged to stay present when the winds of life toss them around as we are? 

What makes them hold on? 

Trees need the wind to build strength. Think nature’s resistance bands. It’s the pushing back against the wind that makes a tree stronger. I wonder if the same is true about the leaves.

It’s summer here in New England which means the leaves are beach body ready and at their strongest. If ever they were going to attempt to ride the bull named wind, this would be it. Perhaps they wait all year for this ride as if it’s their World Championships and chance to shine. Maybe they are just bracing themselves for a natural hell they can’t avoid either?

In another season they wouldn’t have a choice. The autumn winds would catch them at a frailer time and many wouldn’t make the cut. They would lose their grip and fall one by one to the ground. Chilling winter winds would be the ultimate prize and demise of those who clung the longest.  Do they too struggle to let go?

We watch one another across life like leaves dancing in other tree tops. We make up stories about how each other is dancing, flying, enjoying, soaring, coping, gripping, grasping, holding on for dear life, falling and dying. 

Should we be doing the same? Do they know something or have something we don’t to make this mystery less unknown, easier? 

We watch each other’s lives in silence, narrating in our own minds and adding music accordingly to compare, judge and criticize both ourselves and others. 

We adjust our own life’s meaning and success based on what we see and say about others instead of paying close attention to the beauty and truth of our own experience.

What if we dance in the wind instead? Together, alone, in terror or in celebration and everything in between, enter into the present, stay with it and dance with the moment.  Whether clinging for dear life or or dancing with wild abandon, nature reminds us to show up for the wholeness of your life, one leaf rustling bull ride minute at a time.

What is your life asking of you right now? More dancing? To innovate your moves? To unclench your grip and let go? To learn how to bob and weave in the uncertain winds? Ride the bull.