Learn to let go

Learn to let go

“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”

-- Lao Tzu

How do we take something away? As we cultivate higher awareness, we begin to see just how much we have added things that really aren’t there to our picture of reality. Our beliefs, concepts and emotions all add layers of meaning to physical reality, but that meaning exists for us only – it has no objective existence. For example, the word ‘mother’ has a complicated network of meaning for each of us.

Become aware of how your beliefs and emotions colour your perception of different events in your life. See if you can begin to step out of your fabrications to experience the truth and spaciousness of what is.

“When guilt rears its ugly head confront it, discuss it and let it go. The past is over. … Forgive yourself and move on.”

-- Bernie S. Siegel

Letting go is one thing that confuses many people. We wrestle with this concept of 'letting go'. Does it mean 'out of sight, out of mind'? Is forgetting enough? How deeply do we hold on? What if we are unaware of our attachment to something?

I think letting go is being able to freely interact with someone or something freely. The key is choice - whether we carry with us residual energy from the interaction or not, and how we are affected by it.

Some people are able to move on quickly. Others tend to stay attached by unseen energy cords or feelings. I don't know if letting go is something we learn so much as a process that happens when we are ready. Perhaps there are lessons still to learn from the situation we hold onto and that means it has value in our life? In any case, letting go is an act of love not violence and thus is a personal journey for each of us.