4:48 p.m. | 2002-05-26 Good As New - With a Little Trimming. I love to garden and have plants and flowers inside and outside of my home. And, I noticed something interesting. Okay, interesting to me. Whenever a plant has a dead leaf or spent bloom, I pluck it off right quick. Why? Becaue it's not going to come back. Ever. (That's a fact Jack, so quit trying to will dead leaves and blossoms back to life.) And, because I don't want the neighboring leaves and blooms to think that's what they're supposed to do. (Now, I'm just making up an old wives tale. And, one I believe in wholeheartedly, as I did make it up and all.) Anyway, as soon as a leaf gets a brown or yellow spot, it's a goner. If it's not removed, the plant will spend all of its energy trying to repair that leaf rather than making new healthy ones. It's best just to remove it so the plant can use its energy for renewal. Anyway, that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is when I applied that whole concept to myself. I find that, whenever I spot a bad part of myself, I just clip it off and discard it. Or, rather, I attempt to do just that. (That exercise is more commonly known as denial.) And, sometimes, that's appropriate and it works (e.g., bad habits), but human beings are much more complex than plants. Some things can't be discarded; they must be repaired. And, it requires that we put the majority of our energy into doing the work required to repair some damaged part of ourselves. And, if we don't, it will infect other parts of ourselves. (That's where my old wives tale is quite insightful, at least, if you ask me.) That's where I'm at right now. Pulling parts of myself out of the River de Nile, claiming and repairing them. So they won't infect the healthy parts of me. But, to do that, you have to recognize what's yours, face those parts truthfully, and then make friends with them. Nothing new here, in this whole concept. But a new way for me to understand that I really have to face and embrace (ugh, sounds like some new trendy psychobabble) every part of me that can't rightfully be discarded in an emotional bargain bin for others to pick and choose from in a wild frenzy to find a great buy. And that, my friends, is what makes obsessions and compulsions so attractive. They help us avoid taking that trip to the River de Nile and fishing out all of our parts that we so readily chucked away. Not a pleasant trip, of course, but a fruitful trip. When you come home with a string of fish that's yours and feast on them, it gives you the energy to deal with the fish you really want to catch and feast on. And, let me just say, I'm gonna be fishing for quite some time. Hope to see you alongside me at the River de Nile. Trust me, it's really a great travel destination. (Wow. Did I just mention plants, fish and bargain bins in the same entry? Topped off with obsessions and compulsions? Hmmm. Don't make a trip to my brain anytime soon - too much going on in there.) your thoughts? seed flower