Mānuka as a metaphor for life
Shelly's home land on Great Barrier Island NZ
- surrounded by hundreds of tall mānuka trees
I was sitting on my deck listening to cicadas and watching the mānuka swaying in the breeze.
Some of these trees have been here since before I was born.
Others I’ve watched spring from the earth and climb high, high, high until they’re taller than me.
Many of them are about 8 metres tall.
As a child I walked under them behind my Nana along a winding track to the waterhole my house is now beside.
Now I can sit on my deck and watch them.
Swaying in the breeze.
I’ve watched them hurled side to side in cyclone winds.
And still they stand.
After 50 years or more.
Aotea - Great Barrier Island NZ
Lessons learned from the mighty mānuka
It's a simple but powerful life:
Stand tall
Reach for the sun
Drink from the earth
Bend with the wind
Stand tall and reach for the sun again
I can’t help but think, at the highest level, it’s the same with us.
Stand tall.
Lift your face to the sun.
Dig your toes into the earth and drink from its energy.
And then, most importantly, bend with the wind.
Shelly’s home land on Great Barrier Island
- looking out at the mānuka trees
Move with it. Resisting it is when we can break.
We’re made to flex, so why fight it?
Sometimes we need to let the wind blow us parallel to the ground but then rise again.
The ebbs n flows
I can see this in my life again and again and again.
Husband left you and then drowned?
Bend.
Single mother managing everything that entails?
Bend.
Watching your children make the wrong decisions?
Bend.
And then rise again.
The lessons passed on
A key message I repeat to my son, a young man in his 20s finding his way in a world shaped by his teenage choices, is this:
There’ll always be another thing.
What you’re experiencing IS LIFE.
Don’t keep waiting, hoping, holding your breath for it to get easier. There will always be another thing.
To bend with the wind, my son.
Bend with the wind.
Sway, lean, relax.
Let it take you, and then when the gust passes, stand tall and feel the sun on your face.
Just know that tomorrow the wind will blow again, so be prepared to bend.
And, RISE again!
