Instill the wisdom of plants into yourself.
Today we will learn the “power of saving” from the baobab tree.

Baobabs are trees native to Africa and are known to grow in Madagascar.
You won’t find them in Japan, but here at the Tropical Dream Center, you can see baobabs planted and grown from seeds. You’ll see a baobab that was grown indoors. Inside you’ll find a baobab grown in the rain. But have you noticed how the trunk of the baobab that was grown in a dry environment is a bit thicker than the others?

Baobab trees grow naturally in arid regions.
At any rate, it focused on storing water inside itself.

At a cellular level, tree trunks are made to withstand the wind and other elements, as their cells are packed tightly together. However, the baobab’s trunk is fibrous and spongy, so that it can absorb and retain water. What it lacks in hardness, it makes up for by being stout and thick. The thicker it is, the more water it can retain. It also grows as few branches and leaves as possible, since those are spots where water can easily evaporate. Instead, it can actually perform photosynthesis through its trunk. Baobab trees have evolved to where, at their largest, they can store up to ten tons of water inside themselves to endure the dry seasons.

The baobab is a tree that stores what it needs to sustain itself. I want you to learn that ability for yourself.

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First, try touching the baobab tree. Then, try to hug its trunk. Take 30 seconds to calmly and comfortably do this, starting now.

How did that feel? Was it smooth? Was it tender? Did it feel good? Do you feel at ease? Open your senses. Feel it with your entire body.

Inside the trunk of the baobab, you just hugged is the water it needs to stay alive. In other words, it’s saving up water. Now, what do you think humans need to survive?

You need your basic necessities, but you also need something else: the ability to love yourself.

When someone tells you “you should love yourself,” don’t you brush it off as nothing more than lip service? But the truth is that it really is important to love yourself. When a person holds feelings of self-love and acceptance, they'll be able to keep calm even when life gets tough. Just like the baobab, they’ll stand strong even when the rains won’t come.

Speaking of which, how does it feel to love yourself? It feels the same as the sensation of hugging a baobab. If it felt good or even wonderful to you, that already shows a measure of self-love. Think of self-love as “self-acceptance” or inner peace - it is a calm state of being. In other words, if you come across something wonderful, you can absorb and store the calm sensation resulting from that encounter.

I want you to imagine that you’re storing self-love in the hand with which you touched the baobab. Then, I want you to remember that sensation once in a while. If you find yourself at a park or near a tree, embrace it when no one’s watching, and remember the sensation. It may be good for you.