Bramble and Broom

I have been cutting bramble and broom for days now, trying to clear a piece of land so we can plant berries and cherries.

Cutting bramble and broom that have had the run of the land for years, i did not find neat bushes with easy access or nice rows of trimmed shrubs, you find chaos. Things have grown over each other, in each other, killing each other, taking each others light and space.

I started cutting while full of energy and good plans, but after a while of snipping away at stalks and stems nothing seemed to happen. The chaos was still intact and only seemed to grow after each snip. Time to take a rake and see if I could get something to shift. So I dug in and after a fierce tug of war I could see something moving. But it moved like a thousand headed monster with thorns and slimy black spaghetti like things and when I let go of the rake the whole thing seems to jump right back to where it was minutes before.

Now was not the time to give in to frustration and think all my hard work has been wasted, more snipping was needed. After more snipping, yanking and tugging the dark thorny mass moved and was ready to be shredded and burned. After all that I found that the job had only just began, the thousand headed monster did not give up the fight that easy. By now I had the scrapes bumps and bruises to proof that. Even more snipping, tugging and raking was needed and after that I was left with a desolate piece of land, dark soil without any live, still filled with snippets of what was there before, but freed of the thousand headed monster made from bramble and broom. For the first time in years the sun touches the earth and the wind freely caresses the soil. It is open and ready for planting, or so I thought.

If I would leave it now and come back in say a year all the bramble and broom will have come back in force. The bramble and broom will be very grateful for all my hard work and will use all my snipping and raking to rejuvenate in rapid speed. So now that I see the promised land and my soul wants to plant, my head needs to take control and seek out the roots that lurk beneath the soil, make decisions on which once to dig up and which once to leave and understand that from old roots new grows will form.

Now I was ready to plant new things and keep what ever grows from the old roots under check, keenly, sharply and lead it to where I want them to go.

This story is not only true for clearing bramble and broom the same goes for clearing my heart, mind and soul.