On Letting Go

Letting go is often confused with giving up. When we let go, we simply loosen our grip of our desired outcome. It is common for many of us to have expectations and desires for our lives, and we are often left feeling defeated and hopeless when things do not turn out the way we planned. It is so hard to take the long view of life and surrender to the flow. For many of us, we feel that if we double down in our efforts, then our greatest desires will manifest. While that may be true some of the time, sometimes it simply leaves us feeling exhausted. Imagine if we were paddling upstream against the current. If we simply allowed the current to take us, then we would not only expend less energy, we might feel pleasantly surprised at the new wonderful unexpected outcome. It is true wisdom to fully embody the serenity prayer, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” It is a Divine dance with our Creator to know when to take decisive action, when to let go and let God, or a combo of both. In situations of confusion and frustration, it is important to slow down and go within. There may be a still small voice leading us to take a new path, or it simply may be that we relax into the rhythm of life. If a situation is showing up over and over again, perhaps it is teaching us a profound lesson and the first place to start is to surrender.