Rebirthing is a strong part of our life experiences that most people have yet to make a connection with. We die often in this lifetime, and we are born again in this lifetime. Just as ocean waves move toward us and away from us with their ebb and flow, so it is with us in our human suits. We have areas in our lives that have died that we need to wake up, and we have areas in our lives that we need to truly bury and put behind us. To be thriving trees, we must honor the value of pruning ourselves from time to time.

I remember how surprised I was at my fiftieth birthday party to see more than 200 people singing “Happy Birthday” to me. It was such an overwhelming feeling. There was a huge photo of me as a baby about nine months old, and there was also a photo of me in my forties—what I had become. As I stood there, breathing in all the energy from people from all walks of life, I was able to feel how much of the old me had died so that the real me was starting to come through. So many doubts and fears and so much distrust of allowing people to get close to me had had to die so I could let people into my heart. A heart once guarded was now open to receive and let people in. It was truly a rebirthing experience.