Native American spiritual studies have taught me that the greatest storytellers on the planet are trees and rocks. Rarely does the human sit by each and just listen to the wind as it passes beside a moment of study. I'm quick to admit that where there's a place to put down thought is a growing area of opportunity but are you willing to do nothing more than listen? That's why so many aren't inspired by or willing to participate with meditation. The mind has to stop planning out and or trying to dictate the journey moving forward. In 1997 I took on the mission of trying to replenish the forest that surrounds my house in south Charlotte, North Carolina. We put 1,700 six inch seedlings in the soil knowing that maybe one in 40 would make it to a year. Twenty one years later the calling to watch a tree grow has made me extremely aware of what a forest moves through not just daily but into each fast paced season of change. I have a white pine that scrapes the sky at 30 feet into the air. Another chose to grow robust and stretch it's limbs outward. Watching a tree grow mindfully teaches the human spirit to expect storms and how to repair after the limbs have been replaced by broken dreams and promises. A tree never gives up. It does all it can to provide shade, shelter and strength. It gives so much to the spirit of the human and then one day someone comes along and chops it down. Wow... Not in my forest. I've been known to be extremely vocal about preserving their rightful place and space. The roaming deer cause me to chuckle. They hide behind these one time six inch seedlings. They look around the trunks of these trees to see what the human is doing. Hawks fly low and owls hoot all day long. Watching a tree grow does more for the spirit of your soul than anyone can plant by way of a career. Sometimes you've got to become part of the atmosphere.