The Audacity of a Tree

Every morning I walk my dog through an old mill that has since been repurposed for business and residential spaces.  One of the original buildings that still remains is made of chipped and weathered red brick.  The windows are cracked green glass with what look like bullet holes.  I love watching the space transform through the seasons.
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In winter the mill has an industrial, post-apocalyptic charm.  Spring and summer reveal a lush, verdant side.  Cracks in the brick are populated by screeching songbirds.  Trees project out of the building in a defiant, vertical landscape.  My guess is that seeds were distributed into the brick via bird droppings or nest building materials.

Wood energy in Chinese medicine is about exploration, creating new pathways, and breaking boundaries.  Its emotional correspondence is anger therefore its natural direction is  up and out.  Wood is spring and youthful energy, hence its association with newness and creativity.

As spring leads to summer, so does wood generate summer's corresponding element, fire.  Summer is the season of joy.  Sometimes getting to joy requires anger to fuel changing situations that are not acceptable and may even be harmful.  Anger motivates addressing injustice and brings us closer to understanding what we need for joy...

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