I love the Spring.

It is a time of rebirth as the world awakens from the slumber of Winter.

It is a real opportunity to make changes, spruce things up and work on projects that have lain dormant.

The cold snap seems to have passed here in rural Ireland.

So, today, I went out into the garden to prune my rose bushes.

Pruning the rose bushes

When I bought my house last year, the rose bushes were already overgrown but I decided to wait until this Spring to sort them as they had flowered.

Today was the day for action.

Tough love was needed by the bushes and tough love is what they got.

Secateurs in hand, I set about cutting away all the dead material.

Over an hour later and having had to fetch stronger clippers; the job was done.

Rose bushes that were over 8 feet tall in places were now 1.5 feet above the ground.

Of the many people who walked past, none even commented on the amount of cuttings and waste sitting on my lawn, waiting to be placed in the appropriate bin.

They understood that with plants it is necessary to regularly cut away the waste to make space for the plant to grow anew and flourish.

They understood that failure to get busy with my secateurs would be truly uncaring.

Few people don’t understand that.

Why then are there so few who realise that we need to do the same things with our own lives?

We don’t need secateurs or any sharp object but we do need to clear our lives of people, possessions, thought and behaviours that inhibit our growth.

Learning from the Taoists

There is an old Taoist saying that the most important part of a cup is the space within the cup.

It is both a beautiful and a true saying.

The space is what allows the cup to be useful as it can be filled with the beverage of our choosing.

If there is no space, the cup cannot serve its purpose.

The same goes for your life.

If there is no space for new people, new ideas, new items; then how can you possibly grow?

Your life will be at a standstill.

You must clear your physical and mental space regularly if you are to make room for growth.

It is not about being cruel, it is just about redirecting your time and energy letting go of anything which no longer serves.

This allows you the space to grow and flourish.

Today, I gave my Roses the space to grow and flourish by removing waste and decluttering their space.

Are you going to do the same for yourself?

My roses are ready to grow and flourish.

Are you?