A Message Through the Medicine

The Medicine Man leaned over and whispered into my forehead:

“I want you to take yourself home now. Find a shrub or tree in your yard. Tell me when you get there.”

“I’m there,” I said.

“Good. Ask the tree this question: What does it take to be truly happy?”

I paused. I couldn’t believe the clarity with which I was seeing this tree! Every detail, every crease, every green and flittering leaf.

“Have you asked the tree?” the Medicine Man asked me. “Ask out loud.”

I asked the tree, “What does it take to be truly happy?”

I was embarrassed to tell the Medicine Man what the tree then said to me. After all the profundity and intensity of the night, the message I was now receiving felt so simple and silly. I giggled.

“Yes?” the Medicine Man asked again, “What does it take to be truly happy?”

“Be easy in the breezy,” I said.

Be easy in the breezy, the tree told me.