On our property, the Old Woman of the Woods is the Matriarch. A mighty oak tree, she was in her late teens when the Civil War’s Battle of Chickamauga raged less than a mile away. She often imparts wisdom, especially as I’m working in the undergrowth, clearing out things that don’t belong near her. This is a message I got recently as I was pulling up invasive Chinese Privet from around her roots and base.

Any time there is a shock to your system, any time something changes radically, you go back to your roots. You go back to you, for you. Withdraw. Reset at your base.

Some of the ancillary branches, things in your life that aren’t at your core, at your roots, may whither, shed, drop off and die.

That is okay. Once you get back to your core, back to your roots, you will reset. Your upper part, the upper branches, will come back fuller, stronger, and more in line with what you should be, what you are at your core.

—Message from the Old Woman as I cleared around her base.