I have a reading chair where I look out on the Lancewoods in my garden as they are buffeted by the coastal winds.
It’s an odd-looking tree to say the least. Its thin trunk belies its strength, made possible by its trunk being:
✅ High in lignin (a strengthening, rigidifying plant polymer), densely wound with long fibres oriented vertically, like tightly packed cables.
✅ Low in soft parenchymal tissue.
The Lancewood demonstrates that strength can be rendered by what is unseen (or not logical) at first glance.
Similarly, human strength and resilience originate from your gut microbiome, a world of unseen microbes living within you that drive your mood, immunity, sleep, appetite and digestion.
Your microbiome, in turn, is influenced by how you sleep, what you eat, your stress levels, and your interactions with nature and each other.
A healthy microbiome population helps buffer you from the equivalent of coastal winds - so tend it with care, nourish it well and let the resilience woven through the natural world remind you of the strength rising quietly within 💜