“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” – Rumi
It seems lately all I’ve been asked to do is let go. Let go of my well designed plans, let go of what I thought life would look like, let go of what’s not working, is exhausting, or a complete waste of time and energy, let go of my stuff, both physical and mental junk, I’ve been carrying around with me for as long as I can remember. Needless to say this takes me out of my comfort zone, way out. But the alternative isn’t much better, staying stuck causes the soul to atrophy, we begin to wither and become a shell of what could’ve been. In order to move forward we have to let go. There’s no other way around it. You’d think it’d be easy to start letting go of what holds us hostage, but it’s not the case. We have to work at letting go just like anything else. If we do, we’ll find it cultivates deeper wisdom and reminds us that what matters most rarely ever comes easy. When we find ourselves stuck in mindless routines that no longer contribute to our lives or well being, it’s time to let them go.
Life asks us to engage in a continual process of growth that requires us to endlessly reshuffle, rethink, and reevaluate. We are complicated beings, living strange and sometimes unanswerable questions. We feel safe with what’s familiar, comfortable with what we already know, which is why it’s easy to get stuck. Change always asks us to look into the dark corners we’d rather ignore, to consider different possibilities, this can cause great distress, which is why we stick with it, even when it’s not really working. Paramahansa Yogananda talks about this, he calls it re-grooving our consciousness. “Habits are simply thoughts grooved deeply into the brain. The needle of the mind plays those records again and again…Do not settle for a one-track mentality…whatever you want to do, develop that pattern now.” The process of change moves us into becoming more of who we are, we choose to move the needle to another groove, we pick another song to play. This requires releasing something else we’ve been holding onto. We need to be like a snake shedding its skin, getting rid of what we’ve outgrown so that we can expand into what’s next.
This transition business isn’t easy. It requires ruthless discrimination and can make a mess of our life. Letting go turns our lives upside down, which is another reason we put it off. It’s like cleaning out our closets, everything has to come out and look worse before it gets sorted, pared down, and reorganized. The reward is what comes after the hard work, it’s the endless possibilities of what we can be. Letting go of what we’ve outgrown generates a greater sense of well being in our life, it brings new perspectives, and a deeper understanding of who we are and how we fit into this crazy, beautiful, terrifying, eclectic world. This all comes when we have the courage to take on the obstacles holding us back from discovering our authentic self. Let’s not compromise the quality of our lives for feeling safe all the time. Let’s welcome in more of what truly matters to us, even if it’s scares us.
What dead leaves will you let drop, and who will that let you become?
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