What the Health: The Tree of Life
My favorite climbing tree in our backyard growing up. Also, tie-dye + floral overalls = style perfection.
I have always loved trees. I love looking at them, climbing them, and yes, as cliche as it is, hugging them (who can resist every now and then??). When I graduated from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition and started Health Coaching, I was given the Circle of Life as a coaching tool. This tool is used to gently identify and evaluate the balance of twelve main areas of life at any given moment. The lifestyle components include relationships, social life, joy, spirituality, creativity, finances, career, education, health, physical activity, home cooking, and home environment. While the Circle of Life is very useful for periodic check-ins, I find it is lacking a degree of relatability and thorough application to what my life actually feels like. It is a bit too sterile.
I think I can speak for all of us in saying our lives are not a neat little circle. They get complicated, overgrown, tangled, we forget to water them… Planting the Circle of Life into tree form feels more relatable and relevant. The tree is rooted into the ground - What grounds you? What is your personal foundation built upon? The branches are grouped in ways that are related in my life - how would yours be grouped? Which branches are bigger and which are smaller? I truly believe there is no wrong answer.
Inserting the same twelve facets of lifestyle into the different branches was an interesting and enlightening experience. It exposed which areas are related for me and where some of my priorities lie right now. I’ve included a blank tree at the bottom of the page for you to fill in your own branches. Maybe yours is multi-colored like mine, or maybe more ‘natural tones with a pop of color’.
How is this Tree of Life useful?
With health coaching, I hope to normalize the ups and downs of daily life, to help myself and others remember not to expect things to be “good and steady” all the time (unrealistic, wouldn’t you say?). It is normal and natural for some branches to get more attention than others for a while. How often have you heard someone say that it is a priority to get a business off the ground and running? Or important to foster a romantic relationship? For me, the more that I learn these patterns are “normal”, the more I can see they aren’t “me”. They are experiences I am going through and that feels much less dramatic. When the imbalances start to feel overwhelming, it helps to have a visual and external point of reference to reflect and identify where the imbalances may be stemming from. This is where the Tree comes in.
When things feel out of balance, pretend you are a tree and check in:
Am I getting enough light? i.e. am I getting outside regularly?
Am I getting enough water? i.e. am I literally drinking enough water?
Am I planted in healthy soil? i.e. am I feeding myself nutritiously? Physically in touch with the earth?
Do any branches need pruning? i.e. is there something toxic in your life, or something that simply isn’t serving you anymore, that needs to be removed?
Or simply:
Which branches need more or less attention?
I love the way the metaphor goes on and on. Again, the external visual representation helps lend perspective on how many areas of life contribute to having a content and healthy lifestyle. A steady flow of checking in, adjusting, and maintaining a healthy perspective makes it more of an ongoing process rather than a constant personal struggle. It is similar to exercise in a way: we have to exercise on a regular basis to maintain our health. We don’t reach a point where we get to stop and say, “Ok, I did it, I’m fit now. I can stop exercising!”. Lifestyle balance is the same: most likely, as soon as we reach a balance point something will change. So why not anticipate the change and establish a process of embracing the seasons instead of trying to get settled and stay there. Let your tree grow!!
This is me sowing the idea of this Tree of Life into your awareness. You don’t have to have a green thumb to grow this one. What does your Tree of Life look like? Which branches are blooming right now? Which have been hibernating and could use some sunlight? Are you starting with a seedling or ready to harvest the fruits of your labor?
Ok, I’m done for now. This is truly a pun-lovers field day and I could stay here forever. I whole-heartedly encourage you to spend some time imagining your tree and putting it down on paper. Let me know what happens for you when you do. This is just the beginning…
Originally posted April 14, 2021
