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