Pruning

It is amazing what watering a plant will do. I know, sounds elementary, for sure. But you are talking to a woman who has let many a houseplant perish due to lack of water (and my forgetfulness). Recently, I had two gorgeous potted plants wilting on my dining room table. One was beyond help, but I stubbornly refused to discard the second plant and thought I would see what watering it would do, despite the seeming futility of the idea. Well, lo and behold, the plant not only has revived, but it is thriving in verdant splendor! And all it took was some water, for Goodness' sakes! When I had a garden over a decade ago, not only did I manage to NOT kill my plants and flowers, but I actually found gardening so fulfilling and spiritually/philosophically enlightening. I was planting bulbs and sunflowers and herbs, de-weeding, using mulch, transplanting ferns, making friends with earthworms, and doing some moderate landscaping, all by my citified self. What I kept with me the most about the experience is the lesson that, at the most basic level, Life seeks to live. I would be sure that a wilting plant was on its last limb, or that my inexperience in transplanting roots or repotting plants would kill the plant, but then I'd see my leafy friend take root and push forward with life. And it was so gratifying and so simple, and so direct.

In my gardening enthusiasm, I learned a lot about pruning. By definition, to prune means to "trim (a tree, brush, or shrub) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, esp. to increase fruitfulness and growth." It is important to clear away the dead branches because the plant continues to expend energy to them, which prevents the energy from being directed towards new growth. I think this is so amazing, this idea of continuous energy and our power to help redirect energy flow, and how simple it is, especially when you see the fruits of your efforts. I thought about this as I pulled off the dead stems of my now thriving plant and how it applies directly to human life as well. I am in a serious pruning stage in my life, cutting away dead ends in the hopes of making way for new growth. I am applying this metaphor this week (hopefully later today) by cutting off my hair, short, in the hopes of emerging renewed and open to receive all the good the universe has in store for me. One of my favorite quotes this year is from the movie "Coco Before Chanel" (which I loved, by the way): "A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life." Yes, I am.