a thing you can do on walks if you like taking walks and need a temporary escape from the things you say to yourself a thing you can do is just look up at the trees around you as you walk by specifically focus on the branches and the branches of the branches and so on and find the branches that if instead of branches were trees of their own standing alone would be the most perfect trees with roots and perfect branches and so on and if from this point of focus you let you mind start to wander you might find yourself start to wonder what it must feel like to be one of these branches on trees the perfect thing to say but too late and the conversation has moved on looking back thinking what it might have been like if only the timing had been right the life you might have now if only you could go back to that moment and start over from the ground up and if lost in thought you start to see a sadness weighing swaying the branches of the trees it's that same weight resistance wind in your face that builds resilience the strength to know there is no starting over going back fairness in initial conditions or reason for regret except to grow and branch out forward and up