An analogy for the healing process...
© Elizabeth Ruth Lyons, April 2000
At the bottom of my garden is a beautiful Aspen tree which shimmers green in her full summer leaf then gradually turns to autumn gold. This tree has become highly symbolic for me, because, like all who have survived against the odds, its soul refused to die. During several years of Australian droughts it was difficult to establish young trees on my wind-swept hill, but this one proved hardy and had tapped into a source of ground-water. It was growing fast and strong until my pet goat discovered the sweet taste of the new bark and stripped it completely bare over about half a metre of it's slender trunk. It was ring~barked, apart from one tiny sliver of bark no more than 1mm thick. I tried 'bridge grafting' but as I didn't really know anything about bridge-grafting, I didn't hold out much hope for it's survival.
This tree was so full of life however, that it has somehow completely healed the wound itself and is now growing stronger than ever. Last season it threw off the bridge grafts (which never actually took), and is now gradually repairing even the scars. When I contemplate my tree I am reminded that all healing happens from the inside. Therapy sometimes helps 'bridge the gap', but at its finest, therapy actually facilitates what is essentially a natural process. Ultimately it is because something deep within the human psyche refuses to relinquish life, that people who have been profoundly wounded, are able to find their own individual path to healing.