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Speaker 1: Ernie. Yeah, Ernie, he's my Blue Crown Conyre. For over

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thirty two years he has overlooked this forest right here

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in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean every day Ernie

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sits in his beautiful home, overlooking the trees, the nearby lake,

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and every bit of the wildlife that's strolling peacefully through

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this amazing piece of land. Ernie and I share the

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same vision. It's this forest. We both look into these

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trees and study the earth below. There's just something very

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spiritual here. The lyrics to Ernie's Forest, we both receive

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an amazing amount of energy. I put all of my

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trusts and skills as a student into what he is

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willing to share with me. These are not my words,

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These are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest, chapter number four

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hundred and sixteen, March second, twenty twenty four. A somewhat

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tall tree with yellowed leaves sets within this forest where

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ninety eight percent of the elms, oaks, and others are

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totally leafless. How does this one tree get to keep

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all of its leaves. It's a total standout. I'm not

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sure it's saying, hey, look at me. It's going to

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be fascinating to watch this tree as spring begins to blossom.

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Do the leaves return to being green after thirty two

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years in this forest? Why does this one tree seem

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to be truly getting my attention. It's not that it

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was transplanted, nor did it suddenly fall from the sky.

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A total standout that has caught the attention of my

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imagination that's always listening to the trees. I love their stories,

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their presence and stamina to take on the storms and

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somehow keep those leaves. Learning from this one tree, I'd

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say its message is all about being yourself, to not

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be judged, but rather loved, to ask for nothing more

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than a daily ray of light. It's one hundred percent

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okay to be absolutely unique. I think the true message

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here is is that this one tree that caught my

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attention just in that one moment. It wasn't screaming, hey,

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look at me. It was saying I have a story.

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And when you sit down and you listen to the stories,

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this can include people as well. You're going to grow

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in ways that gives you the information. We're always saying,

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I can't find the answers. I went on the web,

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I went to chat GPT. I went here, I went there,

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but we didn't physically listen to everything that was taking place.

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And on this particular day, this tree was the storyteller.

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In fact, when you live in a forest like this

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every day, these trees are a storyteller. But you've got

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to learn how to take your time by living in

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the presence of right now. Everybody is complaining about how

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time is moving too quickly. There's a way you can

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slow it down. Be right here, right now, like it

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or not. And if you don't like your present place

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of now, learn from it, listen to it. You've got

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a beautiful array of leaves and flower petals all over you,

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but do you see them? I marrow. These are not

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my words. These are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest.