Letting Go
Do you feel less than you'd like to? Less happy, less confident,
less "everything" than others? Sometimes your head seems just
above the water even though the rope you're holding is tight in
your hands. Perhaps you're holding on when you should be letting
go. Letting go can be one of the most difficult things we ever
have to do. It can also be one of the most liberating. Opening
your hand to let the butterfly fly away - that jewel-like
creature we wish we could hold forever - means its cycle of life
can continue, uninterrupted. The reward? Jewels returned to us
tenfold year after year as we walk through a garden.
Some of my darkest times involve holding on to things. Past
mistakes which I refused to let fade from the "Open" file in my
memory. The job I chose to leave behind in which I could have
achieved so much more. The child who stayed in my body for just
a few months before dying. People who have hurt me and people
I've hurt. So many things. I have discovered, however, that
letting go of just one thing at a time can bring peace and
healing.
Now, letting go doesn't mean forgetting. We can't forget the
wrong decisions we've made in our lives, the loss of a loved
one, ending of relationships as well as the myriad of emotions
attached to each - and we shouldn't. What we can do, however, is
let them go. Release them from the forefront of our mind where
we constantly call on them and, instead, set them free to nestle
into a soft, sleepy recess in our heart. Always there to be
reflected upon when needed, their essences entwined with our
being and gently helping to create who we are. We are all
products of our past - good or bad - but we should never be
victims of it. Regret, repent, grieve, learn from and then...let
go.
Remember the rope, held tight in your hands? Instead of being
the only thing keeping your head above water, it may be the
thing keeping ONLY your head above water. Is it holding you up
or dragging you down? Let go of it and float on your back for a
while. Close your eyes and drift with the gentle tide as it
carries you onto the beach, safe and well.
Let go.