“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.” ~ Isabel Allende

I was thinking over this quote just the other day, as I pondered over the true meaning of unconditional love. Sometimes, these much bigger thoughts poke their way through to my much smaller spiritual head. I suppose at these moments, I feel much like the Pooh Bear wandering through my very own “hundred acre” woods.

Oddly enough, and just as it so happened, I had been walking along my most favorite section of my most loved wooded trail near my home. I often walk here when I feel a need to ‘reconnect’…to find my center, and to release a few of my much bigger cosmic bundles.

There’s something about just this section of the pathway; each day, I notice something just a little different…something new…something, as of yet, undiscovered.

I notice the trees towering over me, rocking gently in the breeze. Sometimes, I feel as if they are looking straight down to ‘smile’ just at me…as their heaviest of branches lurch forward and downward, as if wanting very much to hug me.

And, though, this may sound oh-so very silly, I know—there are moments, just like these, and on these path walking days…when I will stop in my tracks, to close my eyes, and think to myself…

“Thank you, trees…for really seeing me.”

Isn’t that what unconditional love is really all about? That no matter what the day, or the feeling or the higher and much bigger spiritual goings on…there is always a place, this place…where we may be, just as who we are.

And no matter what it may be that I have tucked so deep within my heart, my trees are always here…holding this space for me…to share their love, no matter what.

Perhaps, that’s why this, our most loveable bear, spent so many hours ponder-wandering through his patch of hundred acre woods?

Perhaps, even he, this bear of very little brain, had it all so very figured out…that real love comes only after we have found our ‘home.’

Because, after all, “home is the comfiest place to be?”

These woods, are my home, they always are and shall always be. And on days, just like this, when I need a little reminder to self—I’ll take my own little ‘ponder-wander’ through the trees. It’s during these walks that I am most reminded, that perhaps, this kind of  love is our greatest home of all.

Unconditional love is like that feeling of always being home—no matter where life’s path may lead us.

Even if it leaves one’s paw stuck firmly inside a honey tree.

Bonus: A Few Life Lessons from a Bear of Such Very Little Brain

“A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.”

“Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake.”

“Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.”

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”

“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?'”

“Poetry and Hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.”

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

“Some people care too much, I think it’s called love.”

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”

“They’re funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you’re having them.”

“When looking at your two paws, as soon as you have decided which of them is the right one, then you can be sure the other one is the left.”

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.”

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.”

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

And finally, always remember, as you walk along your path…try always, and forever remember…that sometimes, the hardest part is figuring out what to leave behind.

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Ed: Bryonie Wise