Why “Hug a Tree” is Good Advice: What the Hippies Know

The other day I read, “Go hug a tree”

 And thought “That’s crazy hippy talk”.

But then I remembered 3^rd grade when

I visited a tree on our playground every week

And wrote about my tree and

How it changed through seasons.

I loved that tree.

In junior high there was a tree in my back yard.

I climbed it all the time to find myself.

Because junior high was hard,

But my tree was always there,

And it never made fun of me.

And then I found the trees again in college,

Working at an Oregon camp

And hiking through the forest,

Enveloped in old, wise, peace.

There has always been something about trees,

So today I was outside and feeling sad.

And there was a tree,

Calm and kind and welcoming.

I hugged it, with its fresh bark and solid strength.

I swear it hugged me back.

Those hippies. They know.

Note: All of these pictures are taken in Ohio, except for the one of me walking through the forest, which was taken in northern California in the Redwood forest.

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