Pruning…isn’t just for flowers, trees, and landscapes this time of year. It’s also necessary in our personal lives, for business success, and can be uncomfortable and painful at times. During this time of year we do a lot of pruning around our yards. We prune our trees to grow taller, stronger, and have larger trunks. We prune our landscapes when they get unruly and hard to manage, and we pinch off flowers that are finished blooming. Why do we do this? Pruning is necessary to grow and become more healthy. If we don’t prune our plants of dead flowers, they begin to seed and take a lot of energy from the flowering plant. The energy is then focused in the wrong area. It is focused on the flower that has already bloomed, instead of putting energy into the flowers to come.
I believe our lives are like that too. If we focus on the part of our lives that are not fulfilling and bring us down, then we are not living to our full potential. If we have business relationships that are not meeting our needs we must change our course of direction. If we have personal relationships that refuse to change and grow with us, then we cannot focus our energy on that either. If you are surrounded by toxic and negative people at work, it is unhealthy and not a positive environment for you to grow.
We can prune ourselves by taking action to continue to grow. We must be ready for change and embrace the change. Who doesn’t want to be pruned to grow healthy, robust, and full of new life? When we are attached to the vine of life, we become part of something that will grow in a severe drought, will grow in the monsoon rains, and will grow with cloudy days. Nothing will stop it from growing. So, I challenge you today…prune yourself of something in your life that is blocking you from growth.
