Can You Prune Your Life Like A Grapevine?

Take a walk with me...

The late summer sun warms your back as you walk though a vineyard breathing in the sweet smell of perfectly ripened fruit while your eyes follow the meandering grapevine that twists and turns and integrates itself with its neighboring vines. There is peace here. There is calm. There is bounty. As you pick the perfect grape to taste, it bursts in your mouth with deliciously sweet fervor. Could this get any better?

Viticulturists say it can. 

Even when the fruit is juicy and sweet, grapevines must be pruned. In fact, it is recommended that they are pruned back by 90%. 90%!!!  It maintains the vine's integrity, health and produces even sweeter, juicier grapes the following season. 

Many different references, including the Bible, refer to God and the Universe as being the true grapevine. Even in the Bible this pruning process is described. 

What in your life is no longer serving you? Helping you grow? Feeling good? What is keeping you from your true grapevine? If it doesn't feel like it belongs there anymore, it may be time to prune. 

Pruning is rarely easy. 

Pruning grapevines leaves you with cuts and bruises from a hard day's work. The same is true in spiritual pruning. There are behaviors that continue to bruise you. There are relationships that need to be cut because they drain too much from your vine. Sometimes the entire relationship doesn't need to be cut. Often, it is taking the time to nurture and guide the relationship in your life or to cut off the most unhealthy parts of it so it can flourish.

Grapevines typically reach maturity by year three to be fully productive. I have found this to be so incredibly accurate in relationships too. After year three, you begin to see people's truest colors. This can be an incredible and amazing thing or a disappointing one. Either way, you clear what does not serve you.

In pruning, you cut back the year's growth and then it comes back even fuller, richer and more bountiful.What part of your last year do you need to cut back? This is, in part, why long friendships feel so hearty. They've endured years of yearly pruning and are well established.

The hardest part of pruning is that grape experts say we need to prune 90%. Can you imagine pruning your life by 90%, trusting and knowing the Universe will bring even more bounty, even more joy, even more grace into your world?

So that job, or that part of the job that lowers your vibration. That friendship or the way you're showing up in that friendship. Is it time for a pruning? 

It can be hard. You don't have to do it alone. Join me for this week's meditation, Can you prune your life like a grapevine?

Pruning can be tough, but is the best work you'll ever do. You will find yourself with a life that is bountiful, delicious and amazing. 

I look forward to joining you in meditation. 

Much love,
Erin