"Hi, Tree!"
A Journey of Reflection, Revelation, and Re-wilding — with help from a tree
(working title for upcoming book by Denise DeLuca)
What if you could talk to a tree — and it had the wisdom you needed to hear?
In "Hi, Tree!", Denise DeLuca — author of Re-Aligning with Nature — invites you into a playful yet profound conversation with a wise and patient tree. Through humor, reflection, and raw honesty, she explores the stress, disconnection, and contradictions of modern life—and the beautiful transformation that happens when we rediscover the “wild wisdom” we already carry inside.
This isn’t a guide to saving the planet, nor a call to escape society. Instead, it’s an invitation to remember. To realign. To rewild your heart and mind and reconnect with the intelligence of nature—both around you and within you.
Take a walk. Start a conversation. See what you learn — and what you remember.
In "Hi, Tree!", Denise DeLuca — author of Re-Aligning with Nature — invites you into a playful yet profound conversation with a wise and patient tree. Through humor, reflection, and raw honesty, she explores the stress, disconnection, and contradictions of modern life—and the beautiful transformation that happens when we rediscover the “wild wisdom” we already carry inside.
This isn’t a guide to saving the planet, nor a call to escape society. Instead, it’s an invitation to remember. To realign. To rewild your heart and mind and reconnect with the intelligence of nature—both around you and within you.
Take a walk. Start a conversation. See what you learn — and what you remember.
Why this book?
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I walk in the woods almost every weekend. Partly to get some exercise, partly to get some outside time, and partly to give myself a mental break from the relentless doom and gloom in my news feeds. Each time I go for these walks, I’m struck by the sharp contrast between my deep sense of all that’s wrong with the “real world”, and my deep sense of joy, beauty, delight, resilience, abundance, and all that’s right with Nature. I go from stressing about the intertwined polycrises of climate change, biodiversity loss, economic inequity, and social injustice — as well as my own security and sanity — to feeling relaxed, expansive, aligned, and inspired. I have often pondered this contrast. Why is it that Nature has worked so well for so long, while the human constructs of the “real world" seem to be rapidly self-destructing? It’s easy to blame “them”. “They” need to change. Although that may be true, what I’ve discovered, over many years, is that trying to change “them” rarely works. Even when “they” want to change. The reason? It’s not enough to blame “them” or even change “them”. Addressing the massive problems we have created requires change to happen across systems, change of the systems themselves. |
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Systems Thinking tells us that our human systems emerge from the myriad relationships between and among the individual humans involved. Most of the individuals involved — most of us — make decisions, behave, and form relationships that reflect and reinforce our dominant cultural paradigm — the mindset associated with the “real world”.
In this mindset, we value and are driven by scarcity, individuality, competition, greed, resistance, and fear. As individuals, for example, we’re driven to amass power and profit, or status and stuff, for ourselves, at the expense of others, intentionally or unintentionally. We want more likes than our friends and our colleagues. We believe we are playing a “Finite Game”, a game where there are winners and there are losers. You’ve got to play, and play to win. If you don’t get it, someone else will. We don’t adopt this mindset by choice. We feel we have to to survive, and certainly to succeed. It’s just the way things are — or so we are led to believe.
The systems that have emerged from this mindset, and the resulting relationships, are exploitative and destructive — to self, to society, and, of course, to Nature. They can’t not be. That's why we now need massive change — and why it is not happening.
In my experience, and I know I’m not alone, we can’t make the massive change we need and we can’t change the system as long as the individuals involved are following the current dominant cultural paradigm — what I’ve been calling the Conventional Paradigm. If we want to make the kind of massive systems change we need, we need to shift our dominant paradigm. And this paradigm shift has to begin at the individual level. If it doesn’t happen at the individual level, it can’t happen at any other level.
So we need to shift our dominant paradigm, but what paradigm do we need to shift to? The answer to this might be obvious — and is to many people, perhaps including you. If we want to survive, or better yet flourish, on this wonderful beautiful Earth, we need to follow the same rules and mindset as every other living being that has evolved to flourish on this Earth. We need to follow Nature’s rules and Nature’s Paradigm.
What is Nature’s Paradigm? What is the mindset that has allowed everything in Nature (aside from humans) to work so well together for so long? In Nature, living beings, and their myriad relationships, are based in a mindset of abundance, systems, synergies, trust, resilience, and curiosity. Each being exists and engages in ways that support the systems that support them. Life is understood to be an “Infinite Game”, a game where the goal is to keep the game going forever.
Although shifting paradigms is thought to be the most effective place to intervene in a system to create change, it’s also the most difficult. In this case, however, Nature’s Paradigm already exists, and it’s alive and well. We already know it and love it. It’s the mindset we have when we’re with family and friends, playing with our kids or our dog, nurturing our gardens, walking in Nature, feeling imaginative, and experiencing and expressing love. It makes us feel good. We feel good about ourselves, about others, about the world, and what is possible.
When in this mindset we are curious and creative and collaborative. We are imaginative and innovative. We care and we share. We think in systems and synergize. We trust. We are resilient. We are able to visualize what is possible and work together to make it real.
If enough of us make this shift — it need not be that many — new systems will emerge. These systems will be aligned with Nature. And it can begin with you. And me.
Massive change, saving the planet, paradigm shifts — that’s a lot to think about, and maybe even overwhelming. This book is intended to make these ideas accessible, welcoming, intriguing, explorable, personal, actionable, valuable, and hopefully enjoyable.
In this mindset, we value and are driven by scarcity, individuality, competition, greed, resistance, and fear. As individuals, for example, we’re driven to amass power and profit, or status and stuff, for ourselves, at the expense of others, intentionally or unintentionally. We want more likes than our friends and our colleagues. We believe we are playing a “Finite Game”, a game where there are winners and there are losers. You’ve got to play, and play to win. If you don’t get it, someone else will. We don’t adopt this mindset by choice. We feel we have to to survive, and certainly to succeed. It’s just the way things are — or so we are led to believe.
The systems that have emerged from this mindset, and the resulting relationships, are exploitative and destructive — to self, to society, and, of course, to Nature. They can’t not be. That's why we now need massive change — and why it is not happening.
In my experience, and I know I’m not alone, we can’t make the massive change we need and we can’t change the system as long as the individuals involved are following the current dominant cultural paradigm — what I’ve been calling the Conventional Paradigm. If we want to make the kind of massive systems change we need, we need to shift our dominant paradigm. And this paradigm shift has to begin at the individual level. If it doesn’t happen at the individual level, it can’t happen at any other level.
So we need to shift our dominant paradigm, but what paradigm do we need to shift to? The answer to this might be obvious — and is to many people, perhaps including you. If we want to survive, or better yet flourish, on this wonderful beautiful Earth, we need to follow the same rules and mindset as every other living being that has evolved to flourish on this Earth. We need to follow Nature’s rules and Nature’s Paradigm.
What is Nature’s Paradigm? What is the mindset that has allowed everything in Nature (aside from humans) to work so well together for so long? In Nature, living beings, and their myriad relationships, are based in a mindset of abundance, systems, synergies, trust, resilience, and curiosity. Each being exists and engages in ways that support the systems that support them. Life is understood to be an “Infinite Game”, a game where the goal is to keep the game going forever.
Although shifting paradigms is thought to be the most effective place to intervene in a system to create change, it’s also the most difficult. In this case, however, Nature’s Paradigm already exists, and it’s alive and well. We already know it and love it. It’s the mindset we have when we’re with family and friends, playing with our kids or our dog, nurturing our gardens, walking in Nature, feeling imaginative, and experiencing and expressing love. It makes us feel good. We feel good about ourselves, about others, about the world, and what is possible.
When in this mindset we are curious and creative and collaborative. We are imaginative and innovative. We care and we share. We think in systems and synergize. We trust. We are resilient. We are able to visualize what is possible and work together to make it real.
If enough of us make this shift — it need not be that many — new systems will emerge. These systems will be aligned with Nature. And it can begin with you. And me.
Massive change, saving the planet, paradigm shifts — that’s a lot to think about, and maybe even overwhelming. This book is intended to make these ideas accessible, welcoming, intriguing, explorable, personal, actionable, valuable, and hopefully enjoyable.
Why this format?
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The content of this book is presented as a series of conversations with a tree — who is aptly named Tree. Tree functions as coach, mentor, thought partner, and nature guide, supporting our main character — and perhaps you — through their own personal paradigm shift. It is a journey of reflection, realization, and re-wilding, with a bit of ranting thrown in. Why a conversation with a tree? Like many of you, I’ve known for a long time that humans are part of Nature. I know this because it’s a simple scientific fact. As biological beings, we can’t not be part of Nature. But knowing that and feeling that are entirely different things. |
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For a long, long time I tried to feel it. I tried to “(re)connect with Nature” in the many and varied and compelling ways offered by others, but inevitably found them too serious or not serious enough, too intellectual or too spiritual, too guru or too woowoo. But still, I tried. I so very much wanted that deep sense of connection, to have a personal relationship with Nature, to access the wisdom of Nature. Yet it continued to elude me.
When we moved a few years ago, I set out to get to know the local natural area, which meant getting to know the forests. So many trees! So many big gorgeous trees! I loved walking among them. There were a few I particularly grew to love and would always stop to say Hi to them on my weekly hikes. One pair of big old trees, a sprawling Oregon White Oak and a majestic Doug Fir, are beautifully intertwined. I started calling them The Elders.
Each week I would stop to admire The Elders, say Hi, and often ask questions. I was always greeted with silence, which was a little disheartening, and even a bit embarrassing. Then, one day, on my usual pause to say Hi, they answered! They said, quite clearly, “Would you please quit calling us The Elders? We’re just trees!” Hahaha! Hahahaha!! They were annoyed with me! I loved it!
More importantly, though, I finally got it. I finally realized that if I wanted to feel like part of Nature, I had to act like part of Nature — not like some groupie or follower or devotee or worshipper. The trees didn’t want to be revered, they just wanted to be. Actually, they didn’t “want” anything. They just were. If I wanted to feel like Nature, I had to learn how to just be, too — and clearly a whole lot more. And thus began my chats with Tree.
When we moved a few years ago, I set out to get to know the local natural area, which meant getting to know the forests. So many trees! So many big gorgeous trees! I loved walking among them. There were a few I particularly grew to love and would always stop to say Hi to them on my weekly hikes. One pair of big old trees, a sprawling Oregon White Oak and a majestic Doug Fir, are beautifully intertwined. I started calling them The Elders.
Each week I would stop to admire The Elders, say Hi, and often ask questions. I was always greeted with silence, which was a little disheartening, and even a bit embarrassing. Then, one day, on my usual pause to say Hi, they answered! They said, quite clearly, “Would you please quit calling us The Elders? We’re just trees!” Hahaha! Hahahaha!! They were annoyed with me! I loved it!
More importantly, though, I finally got it. I finally realized that if I wanted to feel like part of Nature, I had to act like part of Nature — not like some groupie or follower or devotee or worshipper. The trees didn’t want to be revered, they just wanted to be. Actually, they didn’t “want” anything. They just were. If I wanted to feel like Nature, I had to learn how to just be, too — and clearly a whole lot more. And thus began my chats with Tree.
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