I found inspiration this week from a short foliage walk. One doesn’t need to be still to derive messages from nature. We need merely to be aware of our surroundings.

Life lessons continue to teach us to be like the trees, flexible with disruptions, and grow where we are planted. It’s a lesson many of us are learning as we’re faced with labor and product shortages, worldwide uncertainty, and other disruptions like governments being deconstructed and re-imagined.

We’re learning to appreciate that anything uncompleted will still be waiting for us, someone else will do it, or it wasn’t as important as we thought. A neighbor who is as far opposite from me as possible when it comes to organization skills once told me that one day, I’d learn that being organized and structured isn’t always necessary or doable, and plans fail.

Putting down guilt is another lesson we’re learning. Most of us have experienced guilt. We don’t have to carry the mental load for those we love or second guess ourselves, which baits us into guilt.

Did the kids eat their fruit? We should have checked on homework. The house isn’t spotless. We snapped at our spouse. Can we pay the bills? What can we do about world problems? We should volunteer more.

These are all levels of details that, in the long run, if not met perfectly, won’t ruin anyone’s life but will cause us illness; worry and stress stored in our cells degenerate their integrity.

Every day, there seems to be something new to worry about. Listening to the media leaves us feeling vulnerable. We’re not supposed to be aware of everything globally. Yes, there are things we can do to help others. Do what we can leave the rest,

So, what’s the alternative to worrying? How do we keep our feelings of vulnerability from overwhelming us?

Be mindful of the present and what we do at any moment. Put down worrying about the future.

Mediate or do yoga privately or with others. There is strength in numbers.

Learn from trees that there is a time to be still and there is a time to move.

Forgive ourselves. We can let go of a situation and forgive simultaneously.

Allow ourselves to be vulnerable. Emotions are energy in motion. Let them wash through us. Feel them. Get up and move.

Without fear, look at experiences from a neutral perspective.

Take a walk.

Ask for support until we get it.

Share something with a neighbor, workmate, or schoolmate.

Collect joy and do something fun every day.

Be kind, especially to children, but everyone benefits from kindness.

We mustn’t feel guilty about feeling happy or allowing anything to destroy our inner peace. It’s not selfish to take care of our needs first — we can still be empathetic. How we feel affects the people with whom we come in contact and ultimately affects the world. That is enough, even if, at any moment, it’s all we accomplish.

At all times, we are enough.

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