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Embracing Perfect Imperfections: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love My Flaws
Across the road from the Compound of Joy lies a beautiful watershed canyon where I regularly forest bathe. Hiking amongst the redwoods, bays, and pines, surrounded by lush ferns, and wild irises. Serenaded by an avian chorus hidden amongst the trees. Feeling the mist of Tannery Creek on my face.
187 acres of pure joy where once there were giants. Giants like the one above.
In all of this beautiful open space, only a single old-growth redwood tree remains.
The Twisted Sisters.
One tree that is really three. Three trunks wrapped around each other as if their mother braided them together into a giant plait that telescopes up to kiss and caress the sky.
A tree of three that still stands as a living testament to the power of imperfection.
A tree saved from the clear cut that took her peers and her elders because voracious loggers had no use for a curvy, contorted, misshapen tree.
Her perfect imperfections saved her. They are why I am blessed to bear witness to her and reflect on her powerful symbolism every time I hike.
For many, today’s Selfie Culture has left us squirming in the spotlight, obsessed with and desperate to “fix”…
