Plants and trees require love and affection to grow and flourish. We, too, need tender loving care from time to time. When a plant or a tree has dead branches or leaves, we prune it to properly channel its energy. Similarly, we can prune excess in our own lives to optimize our resources.

It is important to note pruning is not always necessary! In fact, pruning a healthy plant can be deadly. If we are receiving all we want and in the quantity we desire, it’s not necessary to do a thing! However, in most cases, there is some excess we can prune to create the life we desire.

What excess in your life can be pruned?

Everyone’s answer will be different; no one is exactly the same. Our habits generate or drain our power and energy. Removing a dead leaf from a plant gives it life and vitality. Likewise, pruning excesses from our lives creates space allowing us to progress and prosper.

One of the most important lessons in my life came from my mother. She told me: “Robbie, the majority of the things in life are neither good nor bad. It is the way we manage them which gives them significance. Moderation, above all, can help us enjoy more of each moment.” Moderation gives our lives balance and helps us trim excesses from our lives.

For some, excess might be the time spent fulfilling their professional obligations. While it is important to work, it shouldn’t take 100% of our time. Our economic activity is what sustains us and allows us to enjoy our environment. Nevertheless, too much work can become a habit which takes away from other important areas of our lives.

For others, excess may be too much time spent in recreation. In this instance, too much play without proper balance will eventually lead no play at all. To rest and recharge our batteries is as important as it is to work and produce.

How do you utilize each moment in your day?

A valuable exercise is to evaluate how we utilize each instant over the course of several days. Logging each of our activities and the time used for each is very revealing! We frequently find our time is being utilized in one or more excesses. One of the most frequent complaints we all hear, and sometimes say ourselves, is “I don’t have enough time for anything!”

While frequently this seems to be the case, time is the same for all and there is no one person who has more time in a day than another. Each day we are given a gift of 1,440 minutes. Like with any other gift, we determine what we will do with this “present.” We can set it aside for another day or take it out and use it. While often we think we don’t have the time, we can easily take 5, 10 or 20 minutes to exercise, call a friend or do something which provides us with energy and direction during the day.

It is not time which is scarce, rather it is the “excesses” in our lives which frequently occupy our time. Pruning excess is an exercise which creates time for us to achieve what we want in life. Time marches on its never-ending path. Determining what we most desire and focusing on those activities in moderation will lead us to our objectives, allowing us to grow and flourish with love and affection, ensuring our journey will be one of intention and not one of frustration.