Let me tell you a little secret.  I am a bit obsessed with the peeling on the manzanita tree.  It’s similar to the attraction you might get after your husband or child gets a sunburn and you see their skin start to flake and peel off.  The temptation to “help it along” is very strong in me.  I would never touch a scab, but there is something about that flaking skin. So, every summer when we stay in the mountains and I see the manzanitas beginning their annual shedding, I just have to participate.  Naturally that got me wondering. I know humans peel after a sunburn, and snakes and other reptiles peel on a regular basis.  But why the manzanita?  After a little research I realized how I too might benefit from an “annual shedding and letting go.”  And perhaps it would be SMART for each of us to consider our own benefits from peeling away certain parts of a life we may have outgrown.

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