Work on Your Root, not Your Fruit

If your root is not healthy, most probably your fruit will be rotten.

The soil

Growing up on a farm has been one of the most amazing things that I’ve experienced in my childhood. There were no such things as alarms in the morning, but rather nature hitting your internal clock before anything else. The sky was looking differently when my little bones were growing at the bottom of a big mountain environment, there was a horizon line — thing that I’ve forgotten about since I choose to move to the concrete space of London.

The first time I went back home, after being away for a couple of good months, I realized that I forgot to look up at the sky. Without my horizon line, I was choosing to identify myself with the pavement more.

My favorite part growing up, was to detach myself from reality through climbing a tree, finding a comfy monkey position, and read a book. Trees were channeling my security in a sense because although it was such a natural place to be part of, I’ve always felt like I didn’t belong there.

I am also the type of dreamer that could easily space out while walking on the street, risking to be run over by any wheel type of transport, so grounding through the power of a tree was helping me find the balance between the highs of the sky and the depths of the earth.

I now realize that this part of my development made me understand that I cannot flow towards the sky without a good, deep pair of roots on the ground. It’s funny how you realize, later down the road, that even the smallest activities that we take part in, while young, are lessons.

The seed guides

On top of this, my grandparents were farmers. Otherwise, how could we call it a farm? Grandpa was the animal caretaker, while grandma was the plant whisperer.

• She taught me how to plant the seeds, how to check the soil and make sure I water regularly, how to make the difference in between the good weeds, and pluck the bad ones. She taught me that time is a very important factor, you can’t plant your vegetables in the winter.
• She taught me how to love the beauty of the process and more than anything to be patient with my result because it’s not depending entirely on my actions, there are the sun, the unwanted storms, and the hoar — and this might mean, that sometimes you have to start again.
• She also taught me how to take pride in my result. Because we are creators in human form and if we don’t stop for a second to appreciate, taste the fruit and we’re always concentrating on planting the next batch, we miss the point of creation.

When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to check if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and pluck away the weeds, knowing that the seed will grow in no time.

There are more factors for which your fruit can suffer on its way to maturity, which can be external, but mainly, it’s a root cause.

I am choosing to go for the obvious comparison and ask you to think of a tree.

The roots — your mindset & beliefs

This is the part where you decide what sort of roots you are developing and where you choose to plant them. Everything you think about others and yourself is settling into your roots.

• What sort of ground will you be planting your roots in?
• Will you have other trees around you and if yes, what types?
• What climate will you choose?

I would dare to say that this is the most important part of your tree. Here’s where you will choose your nutrients, you will find your source and set up your growing foundation. Here is where you will decide how deep your roots will go and what beliefs you will start to form about the world around you.

To be rooted is perhaps is the most important and least recognised need of the human soul. — Simone Weil

The trunk — your emotions & perceptions

The trunk has several roles. It supports the crown of a tree and it connects the roots of the tree to the tree’s leaves.

Whatever mindset you’ve developed down in your roots, it will now be transferred up towards your branches, leaves, and fruit. This part of your tree will now be like a conductor, its main purpose is to lead you towards your goals and ideals. On the way, you will encounter different emotions and your perception will alter or help the journey.

Think of your emotions as being an open/closed circuit that will disconnect the energy flow in between the roots and branches, meaning that your tree will not be healthy, will not receive the necessary nutrients to develop the leaves and eventually the fruit. Use them to feed the pressure up your trunk, rather than stopping the feeding process.

Emotions can nurture your journey if you choose to use them wisely and not let them use you, which is happening in most cases.

For example, when you become angry that things don’t go your way — use that anger to build something that will eventually distract you from what didn’t work, and put you on a different path. Identify how to turn your emotions into fuel that will drive you towards a better set of perceptions. Whatever you will think about the world or yourself, combined with your emotions will sum up your results.

The branches — your goals & ideals

• How high will your branches reach?
• How many branches will your tree have?

These are the types of questions that you will want to put down when you decide what your goals will be. Be smart in defining them and considerate with the factors that are not entirely dependent on yourself.

A thing to have in mind is that some of your early branches will eventually serve as support steps for your ultimate goals. Therefore, learn to differentiate between long term goals and short term ones.

You should also learn to trim down your branches each spring. This way you will realize what goals are going to be of use even in the next season.

The flowers, the leafs & the fruit — the actions & results

Trimming down your branches will bring fruitless springs because those are the breathing times and reassessing points.

This is the part when you will assess the health of your tree. The way your fruit will look like will be determined by the quality of your roots.

Choosing where to plant your roots, choosing to build up based on your emotions, and trimming your branches — will all contribute to your results.

• What types of fruit will you produce?
• Who will benefit from your fruit?

These two questions can be connected to the type of tree that you are, your personality, which I believe that it’s a sum of who you are deep down, plus the environment around you.

Will you choose to be a maple tree, an oak, a cherry tree, or perhaps a pine tree? The list is long.

In conclusion, I say that the roots are the most important part of a tree. The deeper and healthier, the better. I remember I was reading The Little Prince and this part came in, spot-on:

“You will never know when you’ll find good people and where, because they get carried by the wind.

Why?! Because they don’t have roots and this is something that makes them be easily lost”.

Ask yourself why isn’t your fruit growing yet? What could be the cause?

And don’t forget, allow yourself to grow.