Time for some Spring Self-Care!
Last year I bought some fruit trees. It’s been a learning curve for me as I learn how to care for them. This is my first Spring with them and after much YouTube watching I went out to do my first pruning not long ago. Pruning the trees encourages healthy growth. It helps focus the trees resources to the healthiest branches and also creates enough space for the flowers and fruits to flourish. Without pruning the trees energies will be spread out as it tries to nourish healthy and unhealthy branches alike which weakens the tree and can lead to little to no fruits and sometimes disease.
I found myself thinking about how we ought to take the same rules used for pruning the tree and apply them to our own growth as well. Like the trees, seasonal attention to ourselves, our beliefs, habits, thought patterns etc. could help us to focus our energies in ways that benefit us instead of continuing to expend time, energy and money on that which no longer serves us. Remember that you can prune in stages. You don’t want to get too aggressive with your pruning, personally or with your trees, as that can be just as detrimental as not pruning.
Time for some Personal Pruning!
First – Look for the dead, dying or diseased growth. These are the things, relationships, stories and habits that no longer serve you, no longer define you, you’ve outgrown and are keeping you stuck out of fear. These are the things in life that are easily identified as unhealthy. You know what they are! Spring is a great time to trim them away. You can take the whole branch or perhaps release certain aspects. Remember you can do these in stages. As you experience your energy and vitality returning to you as these branches of your life are gently removed it will help you to continue your personal pruning with greater confidence.
Second – Trim any growth that is directed towards the trunk instead of away from the trunk. These branches clutter up the space not allowing enough air and sunshine for the flowers and fruit. These would be actions, thoughts, and habits that, may not be unhealthy as such but that upon closer examination are money, emotional, mental, time wasters. These branches don’t help you move forward in any real way and actually take away resources from those thoughts and activities that bring you true joy, health, accomplishment and alignment. Let them go! These are often the distractions and excuses we use that keep us from fully committing to and experiencing all that we can in life.
Lastly – Find any branches that are growing straight up and trim. These branches cannot hold the weight of a fruit and will snap. These are those judgmental, brittle, comparing, shaming and righteous beliefs, thoughts and opinions we may have about ourselves and others. They can’t and don’t bear fruit and will often end up snapping and either hurting us or others in our lives. These branches lead to an overall weakening in our personal experience and open us to disease mentally and emotionally. Gently take note of these and trim them away as they pop up. Be kind with yourself as you do this – the only way to prune these types of limbs is with love and compassion.
Now don’t forget to fertilize yourself with lots of nourishing and supportive self-care and self-talk. Pruning can be a stressful process at first because it involves change and action on our part. Be patient, be kind, work in stages and like my fruit trees, before you know it you’ll see healthy growth and abundance begin to flower in your life.
Happy Spring!
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