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Do you know the Ginkgo tree? You may be familiar with Ginkgo leaves in traditional medicine and for their graphic beauty. Called “the living fossil,” the Ginkgo dates back hundreds of millions of years, and is a missing link between ancient and modern plants.
Before my lapse into description biases you further, I invite you to experience this video of this tree in Utrecht.
Should you choose do so, no need to work, no need to observe and make notes – there will be no quiz! Place your attention with the experience or wherever you want it to be. What comes up for you?
Other species have come and gone, but for now the Ginkgo endures, rooted in place, seemingly stuck with whatever the environment brings – no matter what.
The Ginkgo is renowned for its longevity – one in Shandong China is 3,000 years old. The Ginkgo is adaptable and can be found clinging to the side of a mountain or thriving in urban pollution. Six trees survived the A-bombing of Hiroshima near the epicenter and live yet today. In Japan, the Ginkgo is called, “the bearer of hope.”
The bulges and gnarled texture of the trunk and limbs, which some people find ugly, enable the Ginkgo to drop down aerial trunks from limbs in an ultra slow-motion march to a new home inches or feet away.
The Ginkgo does not dally about other kinds of change. When the time is right, it simply releases its spectacular load of vivid yellow-gold, often dropping all of its leaves in one day.
Yet the Ginkgo lingers forever in gawky adolescence, jutting out straight pointy limbs at uncomfortable angles, an uninhibited display of prehistoric aesthetics where no gardener ever stepped in to prune. The Ginkgo knows what to do to establish a strong framework and is unhappy with outsider interference. Pruning cuts are slow to heal, yet disease resistance is high.
If you struggle with change, perhaps spend a few moments with the wisdom of the Ginkgo or a tree you know. They know what to be. Do you trust that you do, too?
Find out more by reading a FREE copy of my book A New Language For Life, Happy No Matter What!
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Warmest regards,
Louis
Photo by: angeloangelo via Flickr
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