Denton County Living Well Magazine May/June 2017 | Page 50

Are You in a
“Pruning” Season of Life?
I
By Georgia Smith, MA
magine you are a tree, but not just any tree. Imagine
you are a beautiful, majestic apple tree of Washington,
or a lovely orange tree that grows in California orange
country. Or would you rather be a juicy peach from
Georgia?
No matter which tree you favor, the
process of year-by-year growth
is similar for all fruit bear-
ing trees. Pruning fruit trees
is necessary for new vibrant
growth to occur. The defi-
nition of pruning is “trim
by cutting away dead or
overgrown branches or
stem, especially to increase
fruitfulness and growth; cut
away; reduce the extent of some-
thing.” The pruning process does not
only prune the dead branches but also
the branches that have born growth and appear
healthy. Pruning the dead branches and overgrown
healthy ones is the only way to foster a healthy root
system, and encourage abundant fruit to grow for fu-
ture years. The pruning process typically takes place in
wintertime.
Human lives experience seasons just like our beautiful
trees in nature. Our seasons are more complex of
course, however, very similar. A winter season in a
person’s life can symbolize a time when life appears to not
shift in the direction you have hoped for and remains dor-
mant. This dormancy prompts a realization that if positive
change is to occur, the process of cutting away or letting go
of some things in your life are necessary for the new growth
and season to spring forth.
This season can be uncomfortable and feel as though you
are on an adventure of uncharted territory––a place where
you have never gone before. Your knowledge of what this
new life change will look like might be clear or many vari-
ables still yet to be revealed. You are definitely in a pruning
season if this sounds familiar! Or maybe you have walked
this way a few times in your life, and you know exactly
what “pruning season” of life means.
Letting go of what has been familiar and those
things which brought years of security
may need sorting through to deter-
mine what to take with you and
what to leave behind. Embrace
the process of change through
the pruning season of your
life, looking ahead for the
new vision, and taking in-
ventory of those things
in your life that need
pruning to make room
for the new. We all
know life is a journey, but
can you make it an “adventure” if
faced with new opportunities? Don’t let
the wintertime of life fool you into thinking ev-
erything will remain the same. It is this season of
life that can bring the greatest changes and growth
if you allow the uncomfortable process of pruning
to o