Sunday, July 26, 2009

Letting Go


I had a beautiful, lovefest of a weekend full of sun, family, friends, hugs, kisses and good food. It doesn’t get much better than that. As usual, on Sundays I find time to prepare myself inside and out for another busy week. This week in particular, there was a subliminal message playing repeatedly under my internal soundtrack.

Although I tried to ignore it, the message was clear and concise. “Let go.” I’ve been hanging on to this pain in the pit of my belly for a few months now. I won’t get into the details of it, but suffice it to say that I was hanging on to this heartache because I simply couldn’t process it in order to let it go. I thought things were this way, and turns out they were that way. Human beings develop attachments to people, places and things – that’s just what we do - and often, this is the cause of much of our suffering.

Despite the specific circumstances, which were outside of my control, I created my own unhappiness by holding onto an outdated image. We invest so much into “image”, don’t we? We attach ourselves to the image we are trying to maintain for ourselves and the images that we align ourselves with externally. Even when that All-Knowing inner voice inside of us hints (or screams) that something isn’t right, we cling to the status quo because familiar is a cozy blanket that smells like home. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like to wrap myself in familiar as much as possible. So, we tend to fight for control of our circumstances by putting blinders on and telling ourselves what we want to hear. This leads to suffering.

So much of what happens in our lives is just simply out of our control. When it comes to relationships, careers, children, you name it, we inevitably attach ourselves to expected behaviors and outcomes. This leads to suffering.

We attach ourselves to the past, wishing and hoping that things could go back to the way they used to be. Old ways and situations pass away and new ones are waiting to be born. When we resist this natural cycle, we cause ourselves pain because we are clinging to something that is past its time. More suffering.

This week, I’m focusing on letting go of the outcomes. Now, this doesn’t mean that I won’t work towards anything. It just means that I won’t base my happiness on a particular outcome. I won’t build my security on the nobleness of another person. I won’t cling to the disillusionment of a broken relationship. I will keep working towards my goals and making changes to improve the quality of my life. Not because I am fixated on a particular outcome, but because I choose to live a life of learning and growing. This leads to peace of mind.

All I can do is set my intentions and be willing to dance to the music that is playing, even if I don’t know the song. I will no longer be held captive by my ideas of how things and people should be or how they should turn out. As long as I focus on the improvement of myself, nothing can really be seen as a waste and nothing is truly ever lost. More peace of mind. I love it.

Have a blessed week everyone!

Love,
Easy Come Easy Go


2 comments:

BlackButterfly said...

Thank you for this. This post really hit home for me as I am dealing with letting go of some people, places and things. It is very hard to make that change, but your words have given me an extra boost of motivation.

Peace Love and Pretty Things said...

It's definitely not easy. I have good days and bad days too. Sometimes a memory triggers the sadness all over again, but I know deep down that I can't and don't want to go back there. I want to move forward stronger and wiser. Stay encouraged BlackButterfly!

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