Heroes Not Zombies

Walking through Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh recently I was stopped in my tracks by this stunning display of Rowan berries.

What a colour!

What an abundance!

It felt like the tree was saying “Here’s a gift from me to you”.

I know, you’ll be saying berries are the way trees spread their seeds. It’s not altruism. And while I’m not going to anthropomorphise here, I think there is a Life Key on display here.

How to survive and thrive?

Give.

Make an unconditional offer.

Express yourself as fully and as beautifully as you can.

And you will thrive.

Yes, these berries are there to tempt birds to come and eat them so that the seeds of the plant can be dispersed helping it to reproduce and to spread. But berries are just part of a cycle of Life. They are an essential part of the cycle of Life. If these trees all stopped producing berries yet another species would disappear from our beautiful planet.

Are they the end of a process? A coming to fruition? Yes. But aren’t they also a beginning? The start of an adventure? The launch of the NEW, of the next generation?

Seriously, isn’t this a Life Key?

That to live (by which I mean to survive AND thrive) we have to give. Not hold back, negotiate, set limits and conditions, but give – wholeheartedly, unconditionally, joyfully and abundantly.

Because that’s what makes Life so beautiful, so amazing….that’s what makes others stop in their tracks and connect. That’s what weaves us into the Web of Life.