We all know that a snake sheds its skin annually. This process is absolutely necessary for the health of the snake. In shedding its skin it also allows the snake room to grow. Without shedding its skin, not only is the snake going to be unhealthy but also not live up to its full potential.  Similarly is the pruning of plants. For the health of the plant, it is necessary on an annual basis to prune. Doing so enhances the health of the plant and allows it to produce healthier fruit or flowers the next season. In both examples, the shedding and pruning proves to be quite “easy.” I wish this was the case for us humans.  Unfortunately, the necessary process of human shedding or pruning proves to be quite difficult and in many cases, intentionally avoided. We are more like this tree. And just like a tree, as we age, we tend to harden. As we harden it becomes more difficult to change. Just like a tree, as we age our roots go deeper, and clutch and cling to it’s surroundings. And just as the tree depends on its roots to hold it firmly despite the elements, as humans, we too, become dependent on our roots. And this, is where most humans, go wrong. This “clutch and cling” mindset is what keeps humans from reaching or experiencing their true potential.   Roots give both the tree and a human, a false sense of security. As both age, harden and survive what life throws at them, I like to imagine that they both begin to think themselves invincible. We know this to be far from the truth, our invincibility that is, and yet, like the tree, most people are living lives on autopilot; lives of quiet desperation.   Unlike the trees, who cannot relocate on their own upon realizing the soil or the location of where they’ve been planted is not conducive to their optimal growth and development, as humans, we can and we most definitely should.   As this picture depicts, a cataclysmic event happened to the tree and by all accounts, destroyed it. Isn’t that a more accurate picture of our lives as humans? Sadly, as humans, we tend to wait until something cataclysmic happens to us before we consider changing.  But what I love about this picture is that despite the outer shell being destroyed, it didn’t kill the tree, rather allowed the tree room to “shed and spread.” How true this can be for us humans. The key for us is to “shed and spread” before the cataclysmic event(s) that happens in our lives such as a divorce or the untimely death of a spouse, parent or child, laid off from work, or a major health scare so that we aren’t destroyed from event, rather see it as an opportunity for new growth. In choosing this mindset, we allow ourselves to live a life absent of Fear, Worry and Anxiety, which are the emotions that want us to “clutch and cling”, binding us to live lives of quiet desperation, destined to repeat unhealthy patterns and preventing new growth.