What Do Trees Teach Us About the Dangers of Isolation?

Listen: “One Friend” by Keb Mo 

Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
(Job 12:8,9; NLT)

I’ve always felt at home in the woods. As a kid, I could lose whole days exploring creeks, catching snakes, and chasing after bugs and animals. When I hit my teens, I fell for backpacking and camping. As an adult, the forests of Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming became my favorite places to wander. I love hiking through Aspen groves in the fall when their leaves turn to gold—there’s nothing quite like it. These days, you’ll still find me riding my mountain bike through the woods around Kansas City, or heading out for trips to Arkansas, Arizona, and Colorado whenever I can.

But for all the time I’ve spent in forests, I never realized just how much we can learn from trees themselves. I’d heard about the interconnectedness of Aspen forests, but it wasn’t until I read Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees that the real magic hit me. (I found Wohlleben through an article by Dr. James H. O’Keefe in From the Heart, called “Lessons from Kindhearted, Intelligent Trees.”) Trees, it turns out, are far from solitary. They’re neighbors—communicating, supporting, and caring for one another.

Trees thrive in Community. They live longer, stay healthier, and weather life’s storms more successfully when they’re together. Isolated trees, on the other hand, are more vulnerable and have much shorter lives. The same holds true for people: depression, addiction, and other mental health struggles often worsen in isolation. Trees have figured out what we sometimes forget—life is better together.

How do trees pull this off? It’s all about proximity and communication. They talk to each other in two main ways: first, by releasing chemical signals through their leaves to warn nearby trees of insect attacks (which triggers defensive tannins in bark and leaves), and second, by sending chemical messages through a vast fungal network at their roots. In a healthy forest, the conversation never stops.

Let’s talk about fungi for a second. These organisms are neither plant nor animal, think mushrooms, but with roots that stretch for miles. Wohlleben describes how a single fungus can network an entire forest, acting as what Dr. Suzanne Simard calls the “wood-wide-web.” In Oregon, there’s a fungus over 2,400 years old and spanning 2,000 acres—the largest known living organism on Earth.

Trees aren’t just looking out for themselves. When times are tough, they help one another. Wohlleben writes, “The trees, it seems, are equalizing differences between the strong and the weak…. Whoever has an abundance of sugar hands some over; whoever is running short gets help. The fungal networks are acting as gigantic redistribution mechanisms.” Trees also know how to ration their use of water, especially after injury. When drought cracks a trunk, the roots send out warning vibrations, kicking off a healing response.

Dr. O’Keefe draws a beautiful parallel between this and ancient wisdom. Around 2,600 years ago, Lao Tzu said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Modern science backs this up. Functional MRI scans show that connection, love, and kindness literally light up our brains. Even small acts of kindness make a difference in our health.

Building loving and supportive networks is essential for human well-being. The Covid pandemic reminded many of us how much we need true Community. Evolution doesn’t just reward the fittest, but the friendliest. All humans do better—physically, mentally, spiritually—when we’re woven into networks of love and care. That’s why faith groups, recovery groups, therapy circles, and social clubs of every kind help us thrive.

Brene Brown’s book Braving the Wilderness explores our search for belonging. She writes that our longing for connection is spiritual at its core. We’re hardwired for Community. Her definition of spirituality is, “recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion.”

So, how are you doing with community and connection these days? 

©realfredherron, 2026