There are no instructions for navigating collective trauma, this pandemic, or anything that has upended our happier, more vibrant times. We are winging it and a lot of what we\u2019ve been giving off in the process has been dire, harsh, spiteful, judgmental\u2014 often rooted in anger, frustration, anxiety, and uncertainty. Under these circumstances, we are unlikely to bear optimal fruit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unimaginable that a single year could\u2019ve had this many blows. I don\u2019t know about you, but it seems, no matter how strong my upright stance, I still manage to catch a hook, jab, or uppercut.<\/p>\n
This year has left me with cuts and bruises I\u2019ll never forget, war wounds that\u2019ll take a lifetime to heal, and dead limbs. Lots of lifeless limbs to prune.<\/p>\n
Can I just say that we all need to do some heavy pruning…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I know that once we get rid of this straggly growth, these weak branches, and reconnect with our sanctuaries inside\u2026 Once we get our power restored\u2014 our lights back on\u2026 Once our world opens and we see each others\u2019 big beautiful smiles again, we will find ourselves appreciating this strange and strenuous voyage. Like life after pruning, we will be more sound\u2014 our harsh branches, less invasive.<\/p>\n Hopefully, we will be wise enough to recognize our mistakes, and brave enough to name them.<\/p>\n Maybe we will come to realize how all these tiny, thorny, hurtful plants manifested into disdainful trees and resentful forests. Times are absolutely hard, but they are also ripe. If we are true planters\u2014 sowers\u2014 if we can imagine the harvest ahead, then we must continue to go through this pruning season.<\/p>\n Soon we will be standing, shears and all, trimmed and enlightened\u2014 surveying our scorched earth and tending to injuries we didn\u2019t even know were there.<\/p>\n When the green returns, we will see, with new eyes, our fruit\u2014 our miracles and blessings\u2014 all the unnecessary branches we pruned back and how selective we were in doing so\u2026 We will wonder how we managed to go through\u00a0all of that\u00a0<\/em>and come out in tact, safe and sound.<\/p>\n Dying trees can be revived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are no instructions for navigating collective trauma, this pandemic, or anything that has upended our happier, more vibrant times. We are winging it and a lot of what we\u2019ve been giving off in the process has been dire, harsh, spiteful, judgmental\u2014 often rooted in anger, frustration, anxiety, and uncertainty. Under these circumstances, we are … Continue reading “Pruning Season: How strong are your branches?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10607,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10605\/revisions\/10607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}