Overcome by Beauty

 Have you ever witnessed so much beauty that it hurt? Hurt so much that you wondered how you could handle it, how you could stand it? This happened to me yesterday. I was walking in my favorite cemetery, the old, old one with many huge trees. It was late afternoon, and the trees on the west were back-lit by the sun starting to drop to the horizon. There was a stiff breeze, but the temperature was balmy. It was wonderful to be walking with the warm air swirling around and the trees standing out so clearly. I always love to see trees in the winter, before the leaves grow in. There is a forcefulness, and a clarity of presence to trees during those times. So it was not new that I looked at those intricate shapes of branches reaching out and marveled at them. But yesterday there was a new intensity to them. Looking at the trees on the hillside in front of me, I found myself coming to a full stop and slowly taking it all in. It was so beautiful that it hurt. I actually wondered for a few seconds how I was going to manage this deep feeling, for it was so powerful. I was standing there in the center of beauty, completely pulled in by it. And for a time, there was nothing else, just this glowing, riveting, all-encompassing beauty. Fortunately (I guess!) that feeling gradually faded and I was able to pull back into my usual self again. But I went home with the memory of those few seconds when I was overcome by beauty.

This morning when I drove to the local grocery store to pick up my food at the curbside, I looked at the trees around the parking lot while I waited for my order. And again I felt captivated by them. They seemed larger than life somehow, their presence radiating outward. And then I suddenly realized what was happening. Aha! We have had a couple weeks of unseasonably warm weather here in Iowa, and the trees were coming out of hibernation, coming back to life! There was nothing different to the eyes, but there was certainly a huge energy radiating from them. And within a week or two, I imagine we'll be able to see buds swelling or that tiny reddish flush at the end of branches in early spring.

 I've tended to be a bit of an agnostic about energy fields and auras, though some fellow massage therapists accept those things as a matter of course. During this year of the pandemic, however, when I had no way to continue my massage practice except online, I started doing long distance Reiki sessions. At the beginning, I had to just imagine that I could actually work on people without being physically present. Now I'm glad I persisted, for it's taught me so much. Yes, the world is full of things we don't understand. There's a whole universe out there that exists beyond our everyday perceptions. And now I am often seeing evidence of the kind of energetic reality that I was at first hesitant to believe. This also makes it easier for me to understand what I imagine is happening with the trees, even though my eyes can't see it. Their energy is waking up, extending out. They are in a blush of preparation, their sap rising, getting ready to grow. And whether we notice it or not, we are all at least somewhat affected by this awakening. It is probably happening in us as well.