Image from Here
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
Joseph Campbell
Letting go. It’s something that we hear so frequently and because it’s two words whose separate meanings we understand, we assume we understand their combined meaning. But do we?
How do you ‘let go’? What exactly do you ‘let go’ ?
For me, ‘letting go’ means, first and foremost, being totally present. Now this may seem strange to you so let me explain.
When you realize that any state of mind that is not present is a state of mind that is either stuck in the past or projected into the future, you will see that only the present is real, alive and true and you will experience this realness, this aliveness and this truth.
It is in this state of mind that possibility and creative genius are awakened. It is in this state of consciousness – presence – that you are directly and fully in touch with what is, and *what is* is infinite, marvelous and inspiring. *What is* is, in fact, the field of infinite Possibilities, which is the field of Love and in which your TRUE, POWERFUL and POSSIBLE SELF is revealed.
Now, what I’ve just said may not make much sense to you. It may sound like some new-age, abstract, meaningless and impractical rambling. So, again, I have to remind you that how you see, hear, read and make sense of anything is the result of your conditioning.
You have been conditioned into giving significance and primacy to your physical self which you also see as a separate self that has to fend for itself within a world of scarcity.
In this world view, you have no choice but to secure your own interests which revolve around your physical, emotional, mental and psychological needs. This world view does not recognize a naturally whole, complete, perfect, limitless and creative image of yourself.
In other words, your self-image is nothing like the image you would have of a perfect, powerful, free and need-less being – something that Buddhists describe as ‘Buddha nature’ or that Christians describe as ‘God’. Instead, your self-image is one of imperfection, unworthiness, inadequacy and insufficiency.
If this were not true, you would be able to accept every part of yourself, every aspect of yourself, unquestionably and joyously. You would not find flaws in the person that stares back at you when you look in the mirror. You would not defend yourself against criticism, you would not need reassurance from anyone (including yourself) and you would not need to prop yourself and your fragile self-image with acquisitions, titles, popularity, money, appearance, intellect and any of those things that you have consciously but mostly unconsciously come to accept as valid markers or indicators of your *self-worth*.
Okay, so what has any of this got to do with *letting go*? Ah, it is these very markers, these very beliefs, these very expectations, these very *entitlements* that we have of ourselves and of the world that we need to *let go* for they are phantom, despotic dictators of our lives, at least until we decide to *let them go*.
Once you *let go*, you actually FREE yourself from the bondage of dependency and neediness, from limitation and blame and all their cunningly beguiling forms. You stop demanding or hoping or expecting the world to be the way you want it to be. You stop insisting that people, including your parents, partners and children, behave the way you want them to. In short, you stop being a helpless victim who has abdicated the power and control of your personal wellbeing to others.
Instead, you determine that ‘It’s Love’s way or no way’ and you assume the power and poise of Love, which as I have said countless times before, is the natural form and flow of the Universe!
Whoa! That is what *letting go* really means.
*Letting go* is NOT meekly accepting that you have no control over anything or anyone although it is true that you don’t. It is NOT sorrowfully giving up on the things that you truly desire and settling for less. It is NOT giving in to willful and bullying demands by others on you.
No, no, no! Don’t ever be fooled into believing that *letting go* is an act or choice of weakness. It isn’t!
*Letting go* is an act and choice of the Enlightened who are aware of their natural Power, Potential, Prosperity and infinite Possibility .
*Letting go* is never about giving up something good. It is never about giving up someone or something but about giving up the disempowering beliefs you hold around them.
*Letting go* is about stripping yourself of all that is untrue, unreal and inherently empty to reveal your true Self which is real, whole and complete!
“Letting go* is nothing short of the act of reclaiming your true nature by stripping yourself of all that superficial fluff that you have come to identify as *you*.
And it is only in a state of Presence that you can experience your true nature and when you do, everything false simply falls away like cracked paint off a wall.
This is why when you truly let go, it is the most liberating, joyous and empowering experience you could possibly have!
So, what false (albeit compelling) beliefs, ideas and habits are you willing to *let go* of right now? Are there people and things in your life around which you have disempowering beliefs or expectations? Ones that fill you with fear, anxiety, distrust, a sense of powerlessness or unworthiness?
You know you will never find happiness, freedom and peace of mind until you let these beliefs go and start to experience the awesome truth about your Self! You can keep putting it off. You can choose to hold on to them but you cannot serve two masters. Either let go of the false beliefs and embrace your true Self. Or hold on to your false beliefs and never experience the freedom, the power and the joy of who you truly are.
It happens with INTENTION, then IMAGINATION followed by ATTENTION which results in ACTION. If you have the INTENTION, or even if you are only capable right now of wanting to have such an intention, you’re on your way!
Yes, I know, it may feel frightening, terrifying even, but the fear is about the falsehood of loss, the loss of what is not real.
Remember, it is impossible to feel fear about what is good!
I assure you, I’ve had to *let go* of disempowering needs, beliefs, expectations and ideas around people and things in my life. And yes, I was terrified and unwilling until I realized that the freedom that I gained from *letting go* was simply too good and immeasurably better than the false sense of security, self-image and self-worth that I was desperately trying to hold on to!
In Freedom
Lucy
MENTORING
Let Life express itself intoxicatingly, uniquely, powerfully and limitlessly in, as and through you. Don’t settle, whatever your age. Know your true Self. Follow your Bliss. Live the Life that you know you want to! Contact me here.
MINDFULNESS ONLINE
Join me every week to sit in the presence of your true Self and experience the greatness of Life flowing naturally, effortlessly and powerfully in, as and through you!