Sunday, January 15, 2012

Letting Go Ain't Easy

Have you ever noticed sometimes, if you stop worrying and fretting about something and just sort of let go and say,

“I’m going to let things progress as they are supposed to – whatever that is. I can’t give so much of my energy to worrying about it.”

Then BAM! -- a big, fat change happens. It’s almost as if YOU were the one who was blocking the whole thing, because you were holding on, holding on, to the old paradigm.  

How is it possible that I could be responsible for preventing the very thing I want to happen from happening?  I don’t know. Go ask Buddha, maybe.  Even though I can be a serious control freak, I have found it to really work to just let go of some things at times.  

But letting go ain’t easy.

It may require courage. Or faith....... and it can take time.
To quote Kate Swoboda, author and life coach (
www.yourcourageouslife.com): “You can’t force the release.”  To quote my friend, Rebecca, “When you’re ready, you will.”  In the meantime, you just do all that you can do:

When you have done all that you can do, give it up to the part of yourself that is divine.” – Oprah Winfrey.

I realize that this is bordering seriously on the woo-woo. Fear not, Dear Bloglodites, I have not yet taken up wearing caftans and letting my armpit hair grow out. I am merely revisiting a treasured truth that I discovered but have apparently forgotten. Letting go is not a recent discovery - not a new idea.  It’s been around a while..... 

Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day. -Zen proverb
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
How deeply did you learn to let go? - the Buddha
     

4 comments:

  1. No, you will not be wearing caftans, as God is my witness! But there is a lot of truth to this post. We strain so much, letting our egos get in the way. It's hard to balance, because some amount of grit and determination is necessary, but I guess while we're doing that we're supposed to not be attached to a specific route or outcome. I like the quote: "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." We think letting go means settling for something smaller, when maybe the reverse is true!

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  2. and if i am wearing them, you will be wearing a matching one! i will make them myself, from old bedsheets and ritz dye!

    but anyway - excellent point - "we think letting go means settling for something smaller, when maybe the reverse is true." oh, so true. thanks for advancing the thought.

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  3. well, being the literal and practical person that i am, i just have to ask......what the heck are you letting go of??? year 50? and since even oprah winfrey was quoted, i would add one of my favorite verses...from the bible..."there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

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  4. i was talking about releasing or letting go of things we feel you have control over - that we really don't, i suppose. and the fact that more often than not, better things ultimately come of it. different people can and do attribute this wonderful phenomenon to god, the universe or who knows? that part of it isn't the important part to me. and, without going into too much depth, i was hoping to suggest that we (i) often forget that the real point of everything is the journey, not the destination.

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