Isn’t it strange when something you took for granted your entire life is thrown into question? For example, take the palm tree. They grow in various environments, including where I live in Arizona. I knew about different kinds of palms, such as date palms and coconut palms. And when I decided to drastically reduce my refined sugar intake back in 2014, dates, especially medjool, and coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut butter became favorite products for use in recipes for me.
I also knew about significant references to palm branches in the Bible, such as the events of Palm Sunday, when the people of Jerusalem laid out palm fronds as Jesus entered the city on a donkey, in a symbol of victory.
But as I was looking at this photo above of a palm tree at my workplace, which I took recently, I was curious and looked up some facts. That’s when I discovered that a palm tree is more like grass than a tree. What? Check out this blog article on the subject to learn more! You can find ten more interesting facts about the palm tree or uh, grass, here.
In this time of the world’s history, with information readily accessible on the internet, it’s easy to make quick judgments without doing your research. It’s easy to hold onto preconceived ideas or to perhaps doubt new updated information that comes along with scientific research and investigation. Yet in the fields of history, science, medicine, psychology, etc. new discoveries are made, and what we thought was true today becomes incomplete or entirely incorrect tomorrow.
We create theories, not just in fields of study, but in our own minds based on our life experiences and perceptions of the world around us. When we don’t understand another’s opinions, beliefs or behavior, it’s often because our perceptions come in a vastly different hue from theirs. As the saying goes, “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes”.
So if you discover that what you thought was a tree is actually grass, maybe it’s time to laugh and rejoice in your newfound knowledge. When this might deal with a person you struggle to relate to remember as well that even adults have their inner child inside them still. At least that’s what psychology says on ego states. You can read about that here, and this article goes into plenty of detail. At the top of that article there’s a fascinating picture that showcases this, the child inside the adult. I remember well when one of my past well-trusted church leaders, with decades of experience in his field, told a story of how he hired a consultant to help with the breakdowns in trust and communication in the office. The first thing the consultant told him after observing and interviewing, was that the team he worked with weren’t adults behaving as adults. They were adults behaving as children, and that was the problem.
Several months ago, I randomly contemplated this phenomenon about ego states and penned this poem. At least I can’t think of anything that would spur this poem at the time I wrote it. Sometimes, art simply stems from contemplation. But it made me wish to research the phenomenon more. Anyway, please enjoy!
The Child Inside
by Aubri Wilson
When you say these words, it is not you
When you act in fear, it is not you
When you hurt me today, it was not you
It is the child inside
It is not all your fault; you weren’t taught
If you never received, how could you give?
I can see it in your eyes
How you search for missing pieces
And try your best to live without them
But you don’t know
About the child inside
And how I wish I could reassure him
And hold him and wipe tears away
So you could be as strong as you’re meant to be
But he is hiding
And I don’t know how to speak to him
That child inside
Perhaps only you can
aubriwilson.com 