This post is being pulled out of the archives from 2009, it was one of my favorite posts from that time period about growth and the importance of pruning. Enjoy!
I was cleaning up around the apartment and found that one of my plants, a small fern, was worse for wear. When I’d bought it a few months ago, it was lovely. Bursting with life, of green fronds that were full and even. I put it in a ceramic holder in the bedroom and loved the way it looked.
But a couple of months later, after a bit of neglect and poor lighting, some of the fronds were over grown, some of it had died off. I had not been paying enough attention to notice it’s decline until I stopped for a moment while cleaning one afternoon.
It strikes me that if I’ll take just a few moments, cut off the dead leaves, give it some water, it will grow again. Like so many things in life, sometimes you have to cut away the dead parts to allow for growth, and then a plant will grow in again, bigger and better than before.
The little plant mirrored what was going on in my own life. I’ve had a bunch of things lying around that no longer served a purpose for me. A huge pile of clothes and books, more shoes than I needed. And there were some thoughts, some habits, some ideas that were just lingering around and no longer serve me, either.
What if I took some time, like I had for the the little plant, to cut out the parts that are no longer showing signs of growth in my life? That were no longer collecting sunlight for me, and helping me to be stronger? If I cut those things out, or gave them away, I’d open myself up for new things.
When I prune away the the things that no longer serve me in my life, and get rid of the dead weight, I open myself up for new areas of growth.
Comments
8 responses to “Growth and the Importance of Pruning”
love the metaphor…and so true!
Love how you turned that around towards other things in your life too. I totally agree with it and think it is something really true about all of us. 🙂
i can relate to this in every way since my husband and I are packing to move into another apartment. I can’t wait to have a place for everything and to purge from the clutter around our current home. This is also soooo true when it comes to negative thoughts cluttering my mind and spiritual well being. Thanks for the post! It seemed like it was typed up just for me. 🙂
I think that you are very right about the importance of “pruning” those habits and thoughts that aren’t growing… but it is somehow much harder for me to see those things mentally than physically. Perhaps that simply means that I need to turn in a bit more.
I totally agree, Paula! Good luck with your “pruning”.
Thanks for the comments, all 🙂 I think I need to dig in and go through the closets a bit this weekend. It’s super hot here today so an indoor activity is perfect.
GREAT post
This may have given me the motivation I need to finally let go of my “pre-baby” clothes that I can’t fit into and have been holding onto and just embrace the fact that I am a mother now and have a mother’s body and let go of them. Thank you for the great post!