The Secret Of The Trees

Moving along this beautiful path of Freedom is mostly about what we are choosing to practice. And one of the most profound practices there are is for us to find a way to anchor and ground ourselves in the nowness of this moment. Not only when in formal meditation but throughout our days. That is if we want to experience the ever-expanding available to us. I invite you to join as we explore the secret of the trees allowing them to remain standing even when it is very windy.

Transcript

Blessings and welcome to the path to freedom. My name is Daniel Rocchio and as you're tuning in, As you're listening to this, Thank you so, So much for doing so. Thank you so, So much for choosing to tune in, To listen, To have a moment of expanding our consciousness, To have a moment of raising our vibration as we move along this beautiful path of freedom and this beautiful path of awakening, Which they are one and the same. They're just different names of it. Today, We are talking about trees and we are talking about what they represent. The topic for today is the secret of the trees. And this has to do with coming back to the nowness of this moment, Of allowing the nowness of this moment to be the place where we're anchored, Where we're centered, Where we're grounded, As a practice. Once again, We're talking about practice. This is the path of practice. This is not the practice, Or this is not the path of merely studying and intellectualizing and trying to understand, But this is the path of practicing. It is the practice that sets us free. It is not the intellectualizing or the going to seminars or the reading books, But it is the practicing of that which we learn, That which we come to see. Practicing our insights, Our realizations, Our revelations to a greater and greater extent, In the sense that we are allowing our practice to be an ever-expanding practice. So the secret of the trees. I don't know why this topic came and I don't know when it came either. Perhaps it was a few days ago. I was sitting on my porch and observing the trees. It was a little bit windy and the trees, They were swaying back and forth. And I got to realize, I came to realize that the trees are such beautiful testimonies to what it means to be grounded, To what it means to be centered. They can be in the midst of a raging storm and most of the trees will still be upright. And the reason that they are upright, The reason that they can remain standing, Even when the wind is very hard, Is because their roots run so deep. Their roots run so deep into the ground that close to no matter how hard the wind is, The trees remain standing. And that is a beautiful analogy. That's a beautiful metaphor. That's a beautiful invitation for each and every single one of us to have our presence roots run so deep into the nowness of this moment that regardless of what happens around us, Regardless of conditions and circumstances, Regardless of our experiences, Regardless even of the thoughts and opinions and judgments and perceptions that we become aware of, Our presence roots run so deep, They're so grounded in the nowness of this moment that we remain untouched, That we remain unmoved. And when I'm saying unmoved, I'm not speaking about being indifferent. I'm not speaking about denying anything. I'm merely speaking about us being so centered in the nowness of this moment that everything that we observe, Because there's a difference between consciousness and content in consciousness. We all are consciousness, One field of consciousness. And through that consciousness, Content flows, Thoughts, Perceptions, Judgments, Emotions, Feelings, Labels, And these kind of things. But the thoughts and the perceptions and the judgments and opinions and feelings, These are not who and what we are, But we are the observer, We are the witness of that which flows through the consciousness that we are. And I dare say, You know, It's been said that ignorance is the only thing there ever is to blame. I absolutely agree to that, But I also wanna add to that, That not only ignorance, But our inability to be centered in the nowness of this moment. The time when we get pulled into time, When we identify, When we get caught up in past or present or future, We get pulled into these stories, We get pulled into the fantasies, We get pulled into the beliefs, We get pulled into the emotional reactions, The fears, The worries, The doubts. So whenever we are in time, Past, Present, Future, We are in trouble. We are in trouble, Because then when we are caught up in time, Our roots, Our present roots are not running very deep, But they are very superficial. And just like the trees, If a tree is standing on a mountain side with only a few inches of dirt or soil underneath it, When the wind hits that tree, Whose roots are not running deep into the ground, It will most likely be tossed away. It'll be torn down. It'll be tipped over. And that is what happens when we are getting ourselves caught up in time, When we lose our footing in the nowness of this moment, When we lose our groundedness in the nowness of this moment. Whatever comes our way just grabs onto us and pulls us with it. So we wanna have a practice of coming back to the nowness of this moment over and over and over again. We want our roots to run as deep as possible, Into the nowness of this moment. What does this mean? What does this all mean? Well, It means, First of all, Having a meditation practice is beautiful daily. It can be for 10 minutes, It can be for five minutes, It can be for 20 minutes, It can be for 30 minutes or something else. But having that regular, Consistent, Daily meditation practice is beautiful. Meditation is all about coming back to the nowness of this moment. Meditation is those moments when we are fully present in the nowness of this moment. That is what meditation is. But having only a meditation practice, And I just recently spoke to this, So perhaps you heard, I don't remember what track that was or the name of it, But having only a meditation practice is not good enough. It is good, But it is not good enough. If we have a 30-minute morning meditation practice where we get beautifully anchored and centered in the nowness of this moment, And then for the rest of the day, For the remaining 23 hours and 30 minutes of every single day, We get completely lost in time, We're not gonna be very peaceful. We're not gonna be unmoved. We're not gonna be untouched by the world, But we're gonna be all in it, All swept up by it, All pulled and torn apart by it until the morning comes when we get to center ourselves again. So the invitation is like the trees. The trees, They have their roots running deep 24-7, 24-7. I don't think that the trees can uproot themselves, But if they could, If they could have their roots venture up from the deep soil, From the deep ground, And sort of begin to hang out just underneath the surface, I don't think that they would choose it because whenever the wind hits, If their roots are not deep in the ground, They would be tossed away. So just like the trees, We wanna find a way, We wanna cultivate and develop a practice of being grounded, Of being centered as much as possible throughout our days. You may have heard me speak about the moments in between, Which are these beautiful moments when we're not engaged in anything that requires our conscious attention. So a moment in between can be us going to the bathroom or sitting on a bus or out driving or cooking or watching TV or Netflix or listening to music. It can be us sitting on a bus. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. I may have said that. Yes, We acknowledge it, Absolutely. But we are not in it. We are not one with the turmoil. We are not one with the thoughts. We are not one with the judgments. We are not one with the opinions. We are not one with the labeling. We are not one with the stories as to what should and should not be. But we are observing them. We are observing it. While being so grounded, So centered, So anchored in the nowness of this moment. Moment by moment by moment by moment by moment. This is our invitation. This takes discipline. It takes discipline to actually do the work. When we are in the bathroom, To actually do the work of bringing ourselves back to the nowness of this moment. As opposed to thinking of what so and so said or what so and so did. Or what's going to happen tomorrow. Or that next meeting or that next phone call. Or what happened ten years ago. All these things that the mind does. What we're going to have for dinner. I mean all these things, They happen habitually. Our minds are habitual in their workings. Why not change the habits of our minds? Why not change the habitual structures? The habitual tendency to lean into the past or lean into the future. And allow for a practice, For a habit of coming back to the nowness of this moment. For me, A practice that has evolved this last month I'd say. I used to be very steeped in using the breath. Now the words thank you God are beginning to replace the breath. So the words thank you God come into my mind and that brings me right back. Thank you God that I get to have this breath. Thank you God that I get to have this life. Thank you God that I get to do this or that I get to do that or that I get to. . . Whatever, But just the words thank you. They bring me back to the nowness of this moment. And provide a beautiful opening for me to lean into whatever I feel I need to give thanks for. Or I want to give thanks for. Thank you in the bathroom. Thank you for the health that is here. Thank you for this beautiful body. For everything that is working so beautifully. For every action and function and everything that the body does. Thank you when I'm cooking. Thank you for this meal. Thank you for all the ingredients. Thank you for everyone that has contributed to these ingredients finding their way into this pot or this frying pan. Or when I'm driving, Thank you God for the abundance that allows me to have this beautiful car. Or when I'm with my family, Thank you God for this beautiful family. For the love that we share. For the joy that we share. For the journey that we share. But just coming back to the nowness of this moment. So that is the invitation for us to build a habit of having our presence roots run so deep into the ground. That we are untouched, Unmoved to the very best of our ability. So the question that follows is how can we expand our practice? How can we expand our presence practice? Not only formal meditation. But throughout our days, During our days, Moment to moment to moment basis. That's the question. That's the invitation. That's the question for today. Thank you so so much for tuning in, For listening. Until the very next time, I bless bless bless every single one of our days. And I bless bless bless every single one of our ways. Much love, Many blessings. Namaste.