Living like a tree

We had a doozy of a storm last night. The wind was blowing with force and the rain was coming down in sideways sheets. I was laying in my bed with the curtains open watching the the cottonwood tree branches whip around. Those trees are old and giant. As the wind blew and blew and blew I noticed something, many of the branches actually bent almost in half...without breaking. This may sound cliche but maybe we should live like trees. I will admit that change is not easy for me. I resist and resist and resist until I finally have to give in and bend in half before I break. Those branches held strong to the trunk and the leaves held strong to the branches and each tree remained in one piece but everything was moving with the wind. Each time a gust came up the tree flexed a bit and gave in gently to the force. I was fascinated. There were a few leaves and twigs in the yard this am but no big branches. The tree was changed by losing these small bits and pieces but despite the storm and all of the dancing and swirling the night before was still itself. Still whole. So maybe I should bend and sway with change. Allow the pieces that are not so strong to fall away. Just because things change does not mean that I am not my strong self that I have always been. If trees would have been built without the ability to be flexible they would not survive. Life lesson? I think so.