Dead Heading Old Habits

Did you know that picking old blooms from flowering plants (Called dead heading) actually encourages growth of the plant, and makes the roots stronger & deeper? It is done so that even more flowers will eventually grow from the plant that is deadheaded. This is a great thing to know if you have a plant like a petunia, or marigold that you want to grow more, but dead heading makes matters worse when I’m trying to rid my lawn of dandelions.

I’m not known for having a green thumb, but I have seen for myself how a weed grows back bigger, stronger & more difficult to pull if you don’t get the whole root....

This relates to the personal development process in exactly the same way. If you just cut off a bad habit like emotional eating, stretching the truth, or biting your nails, and try to “clean up your act” the habit doesn’t really go away. It may be tempting to deadhead & weed out a bad habit in your life, thinking that it is taken care of because of the visible actions have been changed. Don’t fall for the temptation of dead heading in your life, as a shortcut instead of doing the real work of getting to the root of the matter. When the circumstances are right for that habit to come again, it certainly will grow up & “bloom” in your life.

Facing the fears, working through traumatic memories, grieving losses, and learning better life skills to nourish your soul and spirit are successful ways to “get at the root” of dysfunctional behaviors. Anything short of that is just dead heading a problem, and likely making it grow back stronger.

Thought for the Day:

Once we are courageous enough to truly get ourselves rooted and grounded in love, we will be able to pursue our destiny and move towards our best version of our self.