Definition of Pruning

So, inspired by Steve's expedition into the world of personal blogging/updates (of his fantastically venturous life) I have decided to do the same! Imagining my efforts as a sort of pruning in the discipline of self-growth, I have decided to name it "pruning the wild"...

While the connotations of "pruning" may be negative - related to aesthetics of a rich man's lawn care - I might take a second to clarify, for myself and others, what this exactly means:

"In nature, every plant eventually is pruned in some manner. It may be a simple matter of low branches being shaded by higher ones resulting in the formation of a collar around the base of the branch restricting the flow of moisture and nutrients. Eventually the leaves wither and die and the branch then drops off in a high wind or storm. Often, tender new branches of small plants are broken off by wild animals in their quest for food. In the long run, a plant growing naturally assumes the shape that allows it to make the best use of light in a given location and climate. All one needs to do to appreciate a plant's ability to adapt itself to a location is to walk into a wilderness and see the beauty of natural growing plants.

Pruning, which has several definitions, essentially involves removing plant parts to improve the health, landscape effect, or value of the plant. Once the objectives are determined and a few basic principles understood, pruning primarily is a matter of common sense.

The necessity for pruning can be reduced or eliminated by selecting the proper plant for the location. Plants that might grow too large for the site, are not entirely hardy, or become unsightly with age should be used wisely and kept to a minimum in the landscape plan. Advances in plant breeding and selection in the nursery industry provide a wide assortment of plants requiring little or no pruning. However, even the most suitable landscape plants often require some pruning. The guidelines presented in this publication should be helpful when pruning any plant..." -Proper Pruning Techniques

In reading this definition, substituting myself as the metaphor of a plant, I find it incredibly valuable to the positive growth I intend for my life.

Yesterday, when I visited the Copy Cat, my good friend Peter said "I am envisioning myself living as a child, uninhibited and free, but using my mature, intelligent adult self to guide and bring to fruition all of the dreams of my child-nature" (paraphrase) ... This is so beautiful to me, his myth of a child, living raw in the present with him. No longer is his past a memory. This, I think, is one way that we take steps towards awakening and realizing our selves in the infinity they represent. My good friend Jordan has a cosmology similar to this, mixed with Greek mythlogical stories and her own adolescent experience, regarding both as the ultimately true primordial stories of creation. We all have these primordial stories, we all live through them, and through pruning - rather, becoming aware of the way I am growing in relation to my context - I will better be able to love myself, to jump and shout in the pure rapture of being alive!