The tree fellers

Every morning I walk my dog, Phoebe, through a small, gravelly park behind our house. We call it Fig Park, for the fig trees that provide valuable shade in the summer.
 
It’s a great place to let Phoebe off the lead so she can run around, picking up the scents of other dogs - or the wild boar that come down from the mountains at night.
 
Each day last week there was a team of men cutting down trees from the park’s wooded slope.
 
I hate to see trees being taken down, so I stopped to ask one of them why they were doing it.
 
“There are just too many of them,” he said.

“We’re removing the smaller trees because there’s no space for them to thrive. The sun can’t reach them. Pruning them like this helps the stronger trees to flourish.”
 
The slope looks different, for sure. But there are still trees aplenty, and room for growth.
 
I thought of my work, and how I encourage my clients to trim down their content.
 
To apply the principle of less is more.
 
And to integrate pauses as chinks of light that illuminate what they say.

As communicators, we also need to make space so the important can shine.

What can you take out so that you - and your words - can sparkle?