Beneath the Canopy: A well-being journal for the city dweller

Beneath the Canopy

A well-being journal for the city dweller

Written by London’s Street Trees

All sourced media are for educational purposes only. All images are copyright to their respective owners.

To the trees of London and Hong Kong

Silent sentinels who have stood over bustling streets and idle alleys, a stabilizing force amid the shifting cityscape, and a sense of home in the sprawl.

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

Henry David Thoreau

Introduction

Did you know that we, the trees of London, share this metropolis with over 8 million humans?

Just like the city’s human residents, we number nearly as many and are integral to the city’s character, forming a thriving urban forest amidst man-made concrete and steel.

We play a crucial role in sustaining the environment, storing approximately 2 million tonnes of carbon (Treeconomics London, 2015), highlighting the deep, reciprocal relationship we share with you.

As your leafy companions, we invite you to join us in the open air or, when that’s not possible, to explore this journal, crafted from our perspective to be your personal pocket forest.

Here, you can discover how our lives and yours are intricately intertwined, helping you foster a deeper kinship between us, and encouraging you to invest in both your well-being and our shared environment.

Our collective survival and health depend on this energy exchange. Starting from the ground up, this journal guides you through a process of reflection and growth, from your roots to the leaves that soon to bear harvest in the right season. Each section is inspired by one of London’s common trees—Silver Birch, London Plane, English Oak, and Sycamore—each known for its unique attributes and stories.

Tools you’ll need for this journey:

• A pen or pencil, colors, and any creative tools that inspire you.

• An open heart, ready to learn from your tree guides.

Feel free to revisit pages, rework them, and reflect at your own pace. These activities are designed to deepen your connection to the natural world and discover the regenerative power of aligning with the cycles of nature. Certain sections also offer guidance for connecting with others over your reflections, enhancing your understanding through shared experiences.

Welcome to a journey of growth and discovery, both in the natural world and within yourself.

Roots

The Silver Birch

The Silver Birch

As a Silver Birch standing along the city’s roadsides and in industrial areas, I extend my roots far and wide, drawing my nourishment from diverse sources. My paper-white bark reflects the sunlight while my roots anchor me firmly against winds and frost, recycling nutrients back into earth, enhancing its quality (Woodland Trust). Despite pollution, I continue to thrive, showcasing my adaptability even in harsh conditions.

Just as I spread my roots to stabilize and nourish myself, you can extend your horizons and seek connections that broaden and enrich your foundation. This section of your journey invites you to do just that.

Focus on grounding yourself expansively. Identify your core values and establish a strong, wide-reaching foundation. Consider the array of your experiences, your influences, and your inspirations. Embrace the diversity of your strengths, and allow them to anchor you, just as my roots anchor me.

Let us begin by drawing a line.

Continue letting it grow into a network of roots across your page, each strand embodying a thought or emotion.

Observe where your mind wanders among these roots.

Now, contemplate on the essentials that nourish you.

List your core values alongside the dreams that feed your spirit.

How do these values and dreams influence your growth? Which experiences have been most fulfilling, and why do they resonate so deeply with you?

Place your heart at the center of your page, then branch out to your core values and the dreams that inspire you. Draw connections to show how these values and aspirations support your daily life, shaping your actions and choices.

How do these elements interact to form the foundation of who you are?

What elements of the earth—ie. thoughts, places, or people—keep you steady in the storm?

Write about these anchors in your life. How do they help you stand firm during challenging times? How might you nurture these anchors to strengthen your hold?

Now that you’ve clearly identified your foundations, Envision your life as a tree like me.

Label each root with these values, considering their order, with the deepest branches being the most vital. Reflect on how they feel to you now.

Reflecting on your roots

As you stand amongst the roots we have explored together, take a moment to reflect.

Was there anything in your discoveries that surprised you?

Trunk

The London Plane

The London Plane

As a London Plane tree, I thrive amidst urban pollution and noise, drawing strength from the very elements that challenge others. My robust bark and expansive canopy not only survive but flourish, transforming obstacles into growth opportunities.

Like my deep roots that stabilize and nourish, your core values anchor you through life’s storms. In this section, the ‘Trunk’, you’ll learn to build on these foundations to become not just resilient but antifragile. Inspired by my ability to thrive in adverse conditions, reflect on how you too can benefit and grow from the challenges and stresses you face.

Let the breadth of your experiences and the depth of your values nourish and empower you. Draw from them, learn from them, and use them to not only withstand but also prosper from all challenges. Embark on this journey to deepen your connection to your life’s soil, enriching it with every lesson learned and every challenge overcome.

Share a story where you faced significant challenges, akin to the pollution endured by the London Plane.

How did you not only survive but also thrive? Were there moments of unexpected strength or growth?

Identify the key elements that aided your resilience. Was it your inner strength, support from others, or a change in perspective?

Reflect

on your antifragility*

Consider how these challenging times led to personal growth or positive changes by visualising a timeline.

*Becoming more robust when exposed to stressors (dictionary.com)

How did these experiences reshape your capabilities?

Mark key points where you felt setbacks and subsequent growth.

Find a tree and trace its bark onto this page. Reflect on the unique marks: what might they symbolize about your challenges and triumphs?

Why did you choose this particular section of the bark? What do the patterns tell you about resilience and growth?

Consider how can you relate this to your own life’s challenges and adaptations.

As a Plane tree, I experience vibrant springs and stark winters. Each season teaches resilience and renewal.

Draw your own cycles of growth, capturing both flourishing and enduring phases.

What challenges have you faced, and how have you adapted?

What ‘nutrients’ do you need to flourish through the seasons?

List the goals that will nourish these needs and detail how you will integrate these into your life to ensure they’re available when needed.

Reflecting on your resilience

Take a moment to review the resilience narratives you’ve crafted, the textures you’ve explored and the goals you’ve set.

Reflect on how visualizing these growth cycles has transformed your understanding of personal hardships.

As you prepare to turn the page to the next section, consider how the strengths you’ve identified throughout this journey can act as the branches that will support your continued growth.

How will you carry these strengths forward as you advance through the subsequent stages of this workbook?

Share this journey with your friends and compare your experiences and insights. How can you help each other ensure that your roots and branches remain strong and healthy?

Branches

The English Oak

The English Oak

As an English Oak, I stand as a testament to strength and endurance, my durable timber reflecting the resilience I embody. Yet, beyond my strength, I play a crucial role as a keystone species within my ecosystem. My expansive branches and deep roots support more life than any other native tree, from the fungi at my feet to the birds that nest among my leaves.

(Woodland Trust)

Reflect on how, like the English Oak, your life is interwoven with a network of relationships that form your community. Each connection, whether small like the fungi or expansive like the birds, plays a vital role in enriching and sustaining your environment.

This section invites you to explore these connections further, encouraging you to expand your network and embrace the communal roles you play, mirroring the supportive nature of the oak in its habitat.

Imagine your social, professional, and personal connections as parts of a larger ecosystem, akin to the vibrant community that surrounds an Oak tree. List or map new/existing activities and relationships that contribute to this ecosystem.

Consider how each connection supports and nourishes your growth.

Reflect on a time when your community ecosystem played a crucial role in your life.

Describe the ‘species’ (roles) you and others played, and the interdependence involved.

How did this support resemble the mutual benefits seen in natural ecosystems?

Visualize yourself at the crown of an English Oak, looking down upon the canopy. Draw this top-down view of your life, with each branch representing different aspects.

Highlight the organisms that live on these branches, symbolizing the people and resources in your life.

From this elevated perspective at the top of the canopy, evaluate which areas of your life are flourishing and which may need more care.

How does this viewpoint change your perception of the importance and interconnection of different areas of your life?

Reflecting on your branches

Take a moment to reflect on the strength derived from your diverse and interconnected community. What new connections or experiences are you inspired to explore to further enrich this ecosystem?

As we transition to the next section, consider how the stability and resilience you’ve cultivated can continue to foster growth—not just for yourself, but for the entire community around you.

It’s crucial to note that English oaks currently face threats from acute oak decline, a condition that emerged in 2014 amid changing climates.

I encourage you to learn more about the challenges oaks face and how you can contribute to their preservation via the QR code on page 46.

Leaves

The Sycamore

The Sycamore

As a Sycamore tree, I am celebrated for my vibrant, helicopter-like seeds that spin gracefully to the ground each autumn. These leaves, once vital for capturing sunlight and sustaining me through the seasons, eventually detach, making way for new growth.

This natural cycle of growth, release, and renewal is a powerful reflection of our own lives. We gather experiences and achievements that nourish us for a time, but there comes a moment when we must let them go to allow for fresh opportunities and beginnings.

This section invites you to celebrate your achievements, recognize when they have run their course, and learn to let go gracefully, making room for the new seeds of opportunity that await you.

Visualize each of your accomplishments and moments of gratitude this year as leaves. Write these achievements on these pages, imagining them as leaves that have transformed the sunlight of your efforts into the energy of success.

Reflect on the efforts that contributed to these successes. Celebrate how these accomplishments have nourished other areas of your life, acknowledging the hard work and the vital nourishment they’ve provided to your growth.

Loose leaves

On one side of the seeded papers, write down fears or negative thoughts you wish to release. On the other side, write your hopes and aspirations, detailing what each needs to flourish.

When you’re ready, tear away the paper from the book.

Plant this paper in a spot of your choice—a garden, a community green space, or a pot. As you bury it, envision releasing past burdens and sowing seeds for new beginnings.

Like the cycle of life in a forest, where every end seeds the beginning of new growth, your journey too reflects this beautiful cycle.

What you release nourishes the soil for new seeds to prosper.

Embrace this process, and let the earth’s nurturing embrace help transform your released burdens and planted dreams into vibrant realities.

Final Words

As we, the trees, accompany you to the final pages of this journey, pause to reflect on the profound cycles of growth and renewal you’ve encountered through our wisdom. From the deep, stabilizing roots of the Silver Birch, the resilient trunk of the London Plane, the expansive branches of the English Oak to the releasing leaves of the Sycamore, each of us has shared insights into the natural world and how these can mirror your own experiences.

We have shown you that, just as we sustain and support the life around us, you too can thrive through the seasons of your life by embracing the connections that nourish and stabilize you. Writing and reflecting here has helped embed these lessons, enabling you to draw strength, stand resilient, reach out, and let go.

We hope you continue to draw strength from the natural world, recognizing that our shared existence enhances resilience and fosters renewal. Return to these pages whenever you need a reminder of the lessons from your silent sentinels. Let’s carry forward not just the wisdom of the trees but also a commitment to their care and protection.

Bibliography

Thoreau, H. [no date] Available at: https://splintercreekms. com/journal/our-favorite-quotes-that-capture-the-feeling-of-thegreat-outdoors [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Woodland Trust (no date) English Oak. Available at: https:// www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/az-of-british-trees/english-oak/ [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Woodland Trust (no date) Silver Birch. Available at: https:// www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/az-of-british-trees/silver-birch/ [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Treeconomics (2015) ‘London i-Tree Eco Project Summary Report’. Available at: https://cdn.forestresearch.gov.uk/2015/12/ london_i-tree_eco_summary_160331.pdf [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Wisbech’s London Plane Tree (2016) Available at: https:// photoreflect.blogspot.com/2016/11/wisbechs-london-plane-tree. html [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Habitat Aid (no date) English Oak - Quercus robur. Available at: https://www.habitataid.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/ Oaks_1024x1024@2x.jpg?v=1711551469 [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Google Images (no date) Licensed image of Silver Birch Tree. Available at: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q =tbn:ANd9GcRq1ZqzwTjtmrqPGi-hm5UQtkn2ZHPjbf3ATHI6d5Ob G8HtAhvTJXSJgIdK8-Cue1HkTA9orNfH7IA_028 [Accessed 24 May 2024].

Forestry.com (2023) Image of forest landscape. Available at: https://forestry.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/3-69.webp [Accessed 24 May 2024].