Let go! You may ask yourself, let go of what? I have no specific thing in mind however, in our lives there are many ways and things to let go of. Having done a lot of moving over the years and in my lifetime, I have experienced the art of letting go. And the pain of letting go.
Yes letting go can be extremely painful when it comes to our friends and family who pass. Grief is real and often tormenting, But that is not what this writing is about. I would like to focus on the letting go of people, places and things that hold us back and keep us down. My experience has been that the tighter you hold on, the more painful it is. Memories are great and we can hold on to the good ones and learn from the bad ones. A friend recently said they were sorry for a loss I experienced. My exact words were, I take the learnings and leave the rest.
Let's break this down. In the area of letting go of objects, we all likely have either by choice or necessity have had the experience of letting go, giving away or losing something that had meaning in our lives. Many years ago my mother bequeathed a dining room set to me that was handed down to her by my great aunt. I could have decided to let it go years before I did but hung on and carried it from North Carolina to Oregon and in addition paid more in storage than I needed to in order to keep it.
Yet in the end when I moved to a smaller place, it no longer was an option to keep it. First, the table, chairs and a large buffet went. Next, I let go of the china hutch. I justified keeping it a great deal longer since I had it full of other items I had kept for the sake of nostalgia. One day I was dusting the hutch and the light bulb came on. I could let everything in the hutch go and wow, I don't need the hutch. I sold it. Last but not least, the small buffet became unnecessary, and it too sold quickly.
What's the point here? Sometime we can let go with no effort. Other times we are forced to release someone or something; it's beyond our control or the decision is not in our hands. Here is a simple but a good example of being forced to let go. There was a monkey in a cage with his arm through the bars holding onto a banana. If he let go of the banana, he could free his arm but instead he would not take his hand off the banana.
Holding on to people and things that we need to or should let go of, keeps us from seeing and opening up to something much better for us and for our lives. This life is in constant flow but we, at least I have, attempted to force it to stop so we can feel secure. Face it! Security is ever fleeting just as a river is in continuous flow. Let life flow; let it bring you all it has for you.
After losing my older brother recently and very suddenly, I realized how life can hit us right between the eyes and wake us up. What we often seem to think we have to have becomes pointless when a life event hits us. What truly matters in our lives? Take time to reflect on what you may need to let go of and maybe you may just lighten your load in life.
I can't write this blog without referencing a song as I frequently do. The song title is, 'Let Go' by Frou Frou (see link below). A few lines in the song are:
Mmm, are you in or are you out?
Leave your things behind
'Cause it's all going off without you
Excuse me, too busy
You're writing your tragedy
These mishaps you bubble wrap
When you've no idea what you're like
So let go, so let go, hmm, jump in
Oh, well, whatcha waiting for? It's alright
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
Are you too busy writing your tragedy and bubble wrapping your mishaps? Let go is my advice whether it is a person that it's time to release, things you're hanging onto that are in your way or simply thoughts that keep you bound up. There is beauty in the breakdown. I have lived that over and over. Time to let go folks.......
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