A tree is a natural example of a perfect business. It energises us with fresh oxygen while recycling our waste air. It absorbs energy directly from the sun while we still have to digest food. It aligns with the forces of nature. Imagine your business is like a tree. Is your business growing each year and producing ripe results? Or is it stunted and withering.

Here are some ways that you can regenerate your life and business using the wisdom of a seed, a tree and a forest.

1. The Seed That Grows A Forest.

Look at a seed. Perhaps an apple seed. It has an entire apple tree enfolded within it. This one seed can start a tree. Perhaps a whole forest. Now apply the same thinking to your business. What seed vision animates your business? Where is the heart in your business? What makes it breath and live? The answer is YOU. Your business vision must support your life vision. What is my life vision, you ask. Hmmm.

Think like a seed again. Design a lifestyle that you desire. Envision your life in all its many colours, shapes and stages of growth. Create wonderful possibilities. Charge this vision with good feelings. What you feel becomes real. Sow this seed vision within your heart. It will soon grow upwards into your head and outwards beyond your body.

2. The Roots Produce The Fruits.

Whatever you sow, it will grow. A seed grows a complete root system before it breaks through the soil surface. Now if you planted cabbage seeds when you really wanted apples then you will experience a very different result. The results in your life and business are like fruits. They can be traced back to your original seed thoughts. These original seed thoughts grew deep roots. They formed your beliefs about life and business. Your beliefs branched into behaviours. Your behaviours formed habits. Your habits created results. Your results created your life. If you have a major problem area in your life then this is just a result. It could be the result of a limiting memory planted many years ago. For example, a barking dog can still cause anxiety in an adult who remembers being bitten as a child. Certain words capture the power of our beliefs. For example, say the word, STOP, 10 times with feeling. Note the physical sensations in your body. Now say the word, GO, 10 times with !

feeling. Note the physical difference between these two words. The lesson here is to choose words that cause a positive vibration in your body. Changing your vibrations can help to eliminate old root beliefs by shaking them loose from the soil of your mind.

3. Turn Weeds and Toxic Thoughts Into Fertiliser.

The success of your business depends on increasing energy levels and removing blockages. So start to clear out any weeds. I call WEEDS - Wasted Effort Energy Drains. Find all the weeds in your life and business. Simply make a list of the 10 most terrible negatives in your life. On a separate paper, write the complete opposite of these negatives. Find their positive equivalents. Like turning your weeds into flowers. Now tear up your negative list and ceremonially burn it. Like burning old weeds in the garden. Now focus on your positive list. Use this list as seeds for positive growth. It is important that you raise your life-force, your energy levels. Weeds, pests and toxic thoughts drain your energy and stunt your growth.

4. Money Is Just A Fruit Full of Energy.

Money is just another form of energy. It is like a ripe fruit. We desire the juicy taste and sweet joy of the fruit. Rather than just the fruit itself. Similarly with money. We want the freedom and joy that money brings. Rather than just lots of money. So focus on all the good things money can create. Imagine you have sufficient money or fruit to feed yourself and a 1000 other hungry mouths. You help them grow their fruit trees so that they can feed others. It is no point in having basket-loads of money yet you are still poor in heart and mind. It is like the greedy king who kept all his ripe, golden fruit in his kingdom for himself. His joy was short-lived when his fruit all started to rot. So the lesson is to be wealthy in mind, heart and bank account.

5. Marketing Lessons of A Tree.

What value does your business provide to the market? Who is your market? Think like a native tree in a forest. How does it attract birds, bees and other animals? Does it use nuts to attract squirrels or shiny red berries for the birds? Does it have bright flowers with a beautiful fragrance to attract bees? The marketing lessons of tree are about sending out good vibrations that attract your preferred customers. Using light, sound, touch, smell, taste and feeling to form a connection. What subconscious messages are you sending out about your business? Your customer's subconscious antennae are picking up signals all the time. Make sure you are releasing a positive message like a flower releasing a beautiful perfume.

So look to nature when seeking new inspiration and ideas. There are many business masters within the classrooms of a forest. So start with the teachings of a tree. In fact, grow one. Grow several. It all starts with a single seed.

Copyright 2004 Hirini Reedy

Hirini Reedy is a Maori philosopher from New Zealand. A former military officer, martial arts founder, engineer and mystical thinker. He combines modern science with nature inspired principles as a path to self-mastery. You can read more at www.maori-secrets.com