I’m currently at my family’s lifestyle farm for the Christmas and New Year holiday break. Being in the countryside is always a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, and I like the calm, restorative atmosphere that nature provides.
Lately, I’ve been trying to decide what my next steps should be after graduating at the end of the year. There’s so much swirling in my head, so many possibilities. What sort of grad role do I want? Should I keep studying? Do I want to stay in NZ or go overseas? If I went overseas, where?
Choice overload is a legitimate bias. Why do too many options become difficult and overwhelming? Can the world not be my oyster, please? Just kidding, I am very grateful to have this freedom.
Around midday I went for a walk outside. I’d intended to go for a walk and listen to my new favourite playlist, but the sun was blazing, threatening to burn me alive. In a random patch of grass in the middle of the path I plopped down.
In the stillness, I realised this felt like the perfect time to meditate - but not here near the groggy clay; I wanted to sit on the hill behind the house that overlooks all the beautiful greenery, trees and sky. I marched that way but finding shade didn’t seem hopeful. There were small shady spots underneath the gorse, but I didn’t want to sit under the gorse - it’s a spiky, invasive weed, contrasting my desired healing meditative energy.
I scanned the grass, fearing I may have to retreat inside. Then I saw the fig tree. This tree had only been a baby the last time I saw it. It was still small, but big enough that it created some shade, enough for one person. Its leaves looked like sprawling palms waving a welcome, drawing me in.
I sat and did my thirty minutes of meditation, focusing on the careers and next steps. It was a positive experience, but actually, I didn’t feel the peace and balance after that I craved. Upon reflection, I think the heat created some frustration, interrupting a peaceful flow state. The random, occasional grasshoppers didn’t help either.
I think meditation should be done in a cooler environment, ideally during the sunset or sunrise in nature. Feeling a slight breeze helps you feel connected with the earth as a natural, spiritual being.
Afterwards, I searched up what the meaning of a fig tree or leaves is. The first sentence I saw was that fig leaves symbolise “abundance, fertility, and spiritual awakening” and the second line that showed was, “sitting under your own vine and fig tree is a sign of blessing and security”… Interesting. This confirmed my intuitive feelings.
In the Bible, sitting under a fig tree represents safety, peace and wellbeing.
"Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken." (Micah 4:4 NIV)
In Feng Shui, the Fiddle Leaf Fig is also placed in the north corner of your home to stimulate your career.
Perhaps I’d already subconsciously created these associations with fig trees through media exposure over the years. Additionally, while researching it’s easy to pick out small details from generalised information to make it relevant. And did sitting under the fig tree compared to the gorse really make any difference at all beyond my projections?
Or perhaps, there was a spiritual energy guiding me to make that small decision between sitting under the gorse compared to the fig tree. If this is true, it would be true on a larger scale too, that the universe is always directing us to take actions that will nurture us and bring us more positive energy, if only we believe in it and trust our intuition.
I didn’t get the answers I was searching for in my thirty minutes. However, everything takes time. A fig tree takes time to grow and produce fruit. For this to happen, a gardener must continuously nurture the tree over the years until it matures.
With whatever is on your mind at the moment, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll fig-ure it out soon enough (see what I did there ;).