You grand old oak
An arborescent poem musing over the rooted nature of differentiation
IN ALL HONESTY | AT A GLANCE
This week’s column is for paid subscribers, and it holds:
a featured poem inspired by how I’ve recently been expanding my capacity for differentiation
an embodied visualization to practice staying grounded in differentiation
a prompt that invites you to to get familiar with what differentiation feels like in your body, your story
a few favorites I’ve been loving lately
a space to deepen the conversation in community comments
You grand old oak:
Raised and rooted. Fastened yet free.
How do you do it? Can you teach me?
Laced into your neighbor’s branches
You fare well as you take your chances
Singular and solid. Partnered yet parted.
How exactly can that be?
You grand old oak,
How do you do it?
Hold the shape of your being
And still remain fluid?
Even when you’re linked limb by limb
You know where you start
And where others end.
You grand old oak,
With your neighbor standing by
Somehow you accept that
You won’t always see eye to eye.
Instead you feel into the spacious overlaps
Because there is love beyond conformity
No pressure to bridge all gaps.
You grand old oak.
How dare you?
How dare you?
Drop your leaves faster than your neighbor could bear to?
But you know every pace is prized.
So, you watch each other change
In its own precious time.
You grand old oak,
Firm alongside your neighbor.
Both moved by different winds.
Together you are one,
And yet still not the same.
Neither one threatened by
The other one’s flame.
— So, how can one stay grounded in differentiation especially in the face of disagreement? How can one get a better sense of what differentiation feels like? I’m sharing my detailed practices below.
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