The Root of it All

The other day I was tending to my yard. As I worked under the September sun pulling up weeds and cutting roots from a tree in order to level out the soil, I was inspired to give you this message.

Just like a tree, we have roots. Our roots are what connects us to the foundations we were born with. For many of us, our roots are connected to family, values, morals, etc., which are the pillars of how we live our lives. 

Throughout my career, I have met many people who wanted to understand the root of their issues. But sometimes those roots are very deeply embedded. I know you are thinking, “Okay, well if they are deeply embedded, how do we deal with them?” 

Just like a tree, we have roots. Our roots are what connects us to the foundations we were born with. 

When I first started digging in my yard, I thought that I would be done by noon. I was set to pull up weeds, till the soil, lay down weed blocker and mulch. As I moved about the yard, I was surprised to see broken glass, rocks, bags, etc., all of which were deeply embedded in the soil. As I took my time unearthing all of these items that were toxic to the growth I wanted to see for my yard, I started to see this experience as what happens when you have deeply rooted issues and you want to create a healthy ground for new things to grow. 

You know when there are issues in your core that you need to unearth. Sometimes it’s scary because you don’t know where to start. Some people start with journaling, therapy, reiki, etc. Regardless of where you start the goal is to make things that used to be comfortable uncomfortable. So you start digging. As you dig, you may notice things that are big “no-nos” and need to be discarded immediately and then there are things that are workable because eventually, they can evolve into more positive things with the right support. 

Once you have done the unearthing, you can see some of the roots. Some of them are small, medium, and large. You start pulling and cutting the ones that are easier to get to- it gives you momentum and makes you feel good. The medium-sized roots cause you to take a bit more time because they are hard to spot and have stronger roots. The larger roots require time and patience. They also require different tactics than small and medium-sized roots. The key thing to remember is that all of the roots lead back to the core or foundation. 

Now it’s time for the weed blocker and mulch but in our case, those things would be mindset shifts, coping skills, gratitude journals/notes, physical activity, journaling, etc.

The interesting thing is that all of this work is laying a new foundation for the vision You have for yourself. The beautiful thing is that the work is never done and you will develop new insights about yourself. 

The marathon continues...

-Djuan