Strength in our roots

For 100 days, I kept drawing—one small line at a time. On day 101, as I looked at this piece, a thought came to me: Perhaps inner strength is like a system of roots, quietly growing deeper long before a tree ever reaches upward.

For 100 days, I kept drawing—one small line at a time. On day 101, as I looked at this piece, a thought came to me: Perhaps inner strength is like a system of roots, quietly growing deeper long before a tree ever reaches upward.

This drawing began with one small line. From there, I simply focused on each line, allowing one to lead naturally into the next.

It wasn’t until I finished, put down my pen, and stepped back to look at the whole piece that I suddenly saw it: a large tree emerging before me.

A tree with strong roots reaching deep into the earth. From that foundation, the trunk rises, the branches spread, and new growth begins to appear.

The longer I looked at it, the more it reminded me of the way we grow as people.

We often pay attention to what is growing above the surface: what we have accomplished, how far we have come, or how much we have changed. But for a tree to keep growing upward, something equally important is happening beneath the ground, where no one can see it.

Perhaps our inner strength grows in much the same way.

We don’t suddenly develop it when a storm arrives. It is built during ordinary days, through the small things we choose to return to again and again: keeping a promise to ourselves, completing even a small task, spending ten minutes focusing on each Zentangle stroke, or simply returning to a habit after missing a day.

These things may not create a change big enough for others to notice right away. But each time we practice, we strengthen our foundation a little more.

Then, when the “storms” of life arrive, we may still bend and sway. What helps us stay rooted is not that we are stronger than the storm, but that our roots have been growing long before it came.

Perhaps that is what I value most about small daily practices.

I’m not only doing something for the result I can see today.

I’m quietly tending to my own roots.

#LoanRuby #doodle #zentanglepattern #mindfulness