Try growing a palm tree in New York, and it won’t matter how much water or sunlight you give it; it just won’t thrive.
New York’s cold winters and freezing temperatures are not conducive to growing palm trees.
Most palm trees are native to tropical and subtropical climates. They can’t withstand prolonged freezing temperatures — which makes New York a poor environment for their growth.
In a nutshell: New York does not provide the right environment for growing most palm trees.
If you didn’t know that most palm trees won’t thrive in northeast climates, you might get frustrated when your tree failed to gain traction.
Maybe you’ll think that you’re doing something wrong, or you’ll blame the tree.
Once you have this information, it might become clear that the problem is not with the tree, or with you. It’s merely a wrong environmental fit for that type of palm tree.
People are not much different from trees in this respect.
People Are Like Trees
Just like a tree grows roots downward into the ground before it pushes through the soil to grow upward, people also need solid rooting and foundation to expand.
Just like a tree needs the right soil, light, water, and nutrients to grow, people need the right relational, spiritual, emotional, and physical support to thrive.
Even within the same general family of palm trees, different varieties have different needs. Not all palm trees require tropical or warm climates. There are varieties of palm trees can grow in northern climates.
People are the same way. Just because we look the same as other people in our family doesn’t mean we thrive under the same conditions.
Maybe you’re someone who thrives in high-stimulation, interactive environments where you get plenty of sunlight and social engagement, but you’ve been trying to force yourself to work in a quiet office setting behind a desk.
You’re withering like a tropical palm tree in a winter environment.
Creating the Ideal Conditions For Growth
Unlike for trees, there’s no encyclopedic reference guide or expert that can tell you what conditions each person needs to thrive.
It takes years of trial, error, and self-study to be an expert on what you need to thrive. You need to become a scientist of your own life.
The effort is complicated by the fact that sometimes the conditions of your ideal environment change over time.
But it turns out there is also a form of “reference guide” that can help. Your astrology natal chart — the map of the sky when you were born — contains within it the key to understanding the conditions that help you live into your ideal version of you.
Your Natal Chart: The Guide for Your Growth
Your natal chart can reveal your natural rhythms, your ideal environments, your greatest challenges, and your best gifts.
Your natal chart is like a botanical guide for your particular species. It won’t tell you what career to choose or who to marry, but it reveals the environmental conditions in which your energy flourishes.
It’s not a shortcut around doing the work of self-investigation; it’s a tool that can aid with the process.
All living beings have the potential to thrive and grow — when they are in an environment that is conducive to their growth.
The better you understand your unique ecosystem, the easier it becomes to stop fighting what doesn’t work, and start cultivating what does.
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