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.