Pulling The Vines

A good metaphor can open up a subject you are trying to understand...or help you to articulate what you think about it...
in a telling way. As a song-writer and poet...as part of my preparation for creating...I am on the look-out for metaphors. If
you have inner and outer eyes to see them...you will notice them...as they are all around us. I was walking down a street in
Kitsilano, British Columbia, some years ago, when I noticed a tree that was a lot smaller than, and not as healthy looking as,
the other trees of the same species, along the way. On closer inspection, I saw what was likely the cause of the runt-like
status, of this smallest tree. There were thick ivy vines spiralling up and coiling around its trunk, and even up into the leaves
of the tree...appearing to be squeezing the life out of it. I immediately saw that there was a metaphor here for the vines that we allow to choke us, from becoming fully fledged, powerful, beautiful, imaginative, laughing, creative, peaceful
and loving human beings. Around that time, I was creating material for a workshop I was scheduled to give called
"Awakening The Creative Eye"...and the song that I wrote after coming upon this metaphor...became a central element of
this workshop. The final verse of this song said..."I've been pulling the vines from off of my tree for a long long time...Gonna
get me a flower for every vine...Bloom from head to toe when my tree's all mine...I've been pulling the vines from off of my
tree for a long long time". I used this verse at the start of the workshop...to illustrate that in order to free ourselves to tap
the creative potential in each of us...we needed to first identify the "vines" that were imprisoning this potential...
then consciously break them one by one. We then had a discussion that identified what some of these vines are...perhaps in
another posting I'll list some of them. In my life...in areas other than creativity... also...the sentiments in this song have helped me to work on areas where my potentials have been blocked...as I continue to "pull the vines from off of my tree!".......Quester.