Standing, Swaying, Becoming

It happens to anyone. There are days when too many things demand our attention — new situations to adapt to, changes to manage, and physical or emotional shifts that bring discomfort. Thoughts keep moving in the background, sometimes pulling us down before we even realize their weight.

What feels certain today may not feel the same tomorrow. Life moves like seasons, yet not all seasons arrive the same way everywhere.

Winter in Bangalore doesn’t ask trees to become bare. Instead, each tree seems to decide its own rhythm. Some shed their leaves all at once before new blooms appear. Others let go slowly, holding onto brown leaves even as fresh buds emerge. Sometimes shedding and blooming happen together — endings and beginnings sharing the same branch.

The tree outside my balcony has chosen that path this year. Now, in mid-February, spring is already in the air. It still carries patches of dry brown leaves, letting them fall gently one by one, while at the same time bursting into blossoms. Watching it, I feel as though it has made a quiet decision — perhaps guided by this year’s weather, perhaps by something deeper within its nature.

I often find myself wondering: What is that tree thinking as it takes these steps?
What silent messages travel through the unseen Wood Wide Web, guiding when to release and when to bloom?

Life feels a little like that tree.

At times, life feels uncertain — like something that can be two things at once. Should we stand steady like a strong trunk, or sway with the wind and let change flow through us

People say, “You are not a tree — you don’t have to stay rooted.” That may be true. Yet trees continue to teach me something new every time I watch them. They let go without drama. They rest without announcing it. And when the time feels right, they bloom — even while traces of the past still linger.

I have written about trees before. I know I will write about them again. They never cease to amaze me.

Perhaps what they show us is not rigidity, but balance — stability in the roots and adaptability in the branches. They do not rush to match another tree’s timing. Each one moves according to its own rhythm, shaped by light, soil, wind, and unseen conversations beneath the ground.

In a world where change is constant, life rises and falls like waves touching the shore. The shore does not resist every wave; it simply receives, releases, and remains.

And maybe that is the quiet reminder for us:

Let go slowly, like leaves that fall when they are ready.
Bloom even while parts of you are still changing.
Stand firm when strength is needed.
Sway gently when the winds grow strong.
Trust your own season.

Like that tree outside my balcony —
still shedding, already blooming,
standing, swaying, becoming.

— Anitha KC.