BRANCHING STRUCTURE

Excerpt from PURSUIT: Ya Kuwinda.
This is Book #1 in Brandon’s Pursuit Series.
The newly-revised 2nd Edition was released in 2018.

Harper was mesmerized by the motion as darkness fell. She never felt so much at home, in her own element, as when surrounded by plant life. Here, she felt embraced by the lush green foliage, lulling her into a comfortable space which felt soothing after so much turmoil in her personal life. As she immersed herself in the comfort and beauty of her surroundings, she couldn’t help hearing her father’s voice:

The deciding factors of a tree’s branching structure are both numerous and mysterious. Sunlight availability, the growth hormone and communicator auxin, as well as nutrients, genes, and sheer physics dictate branching geometry. Mathematics play a huge role in branching in that many species use the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci numbers to form branching structures, especially in the whorl forms.

Without the proper branching design, continuously adjusting to physical and environmental challenges, the tree not only cannot compete for sunlight but will topple in the forest. An overabundance of foliage on one side will eventually succumb to gravity.

When you grow up, Harper, you must branch out in many directions in order to achieve balance in your life. Any branch too heavy in one direction will bring you down. If you do not branch at all, you will not receive the necessary nutrients to flourish.

I know it is sometimes petrifying because you will most certainly fail. Humans unfortunately do not have the brilliant auxin as a guide. Well, in actuality we do; it is called a brain. However, humans have the misfortune of desires and ego which will perpetually cloud our branching strategies.

If you do not branch, and branch well, you will sit on the forest floor and be stunted, never showing the true beauty of a perfectly balanced person. It takes much work, Sapling, constantly stretching away from the known.

But you must.