The Art of Letting Go

We live in such an extraordinary world. Just think about it – everything you see, including your body, is made out of atoms that were once a part of a star. This includes concrete, tomatoes, air, your coffee mug, and even dirt! And Life has been recycling those atoms for 13.8 billion years. Science has now shown that there are atoms inside of you that were once a part of Jesus’ body, Gandhi’s body, and Shakespeare’s body. If that doesn’t knock your socks off, I don’t know what will! And yet we are not present for the wonder of Life. We think our way through our lives, lost in the storyteller mind that makes up a story about everything rather than being present for this amazing adventure called Life. 

I like to say the separate, conditioned self that talks in our heads all day long is a “bubble of struggle.” All around us is this phenomenal planet we live on and yet we stay trapped in a mind that struggles all day long. It says, “I like this; I don’t like that. This is right; that is wrong. This is good; that is bad.” The storyteller mind is always trying to get what it wants and get away from what it doesn’t want. And when we are caught in it, we are completely cut off from who we really are. We are cut off from being available to Life right here, right now. 

How do we deal with that?  How we deal with a mind that longs to be present for Life but is afraid of it? This is a very important question in awakening and one of the core answers is Love. Jeff Foster, author of The Deepest Acceptance, is a powerful spokesperson of the heart and the following is one of my favorite of his writings because it is straight from the heart-brain, the place where all lasting healing happens. 

WHEN FEELINGS ‘LET GO’

Give up the struggle
to ‘let go’
of fear, anger, sadness.

Instead, become exceedingly curious
about these ‘unwanted’ visitors.
Breathe into them, give them room,
let them stay, today;
bless them with non-judgmental attention.

When they feel loved enough,
when they feel safely held
in your non-resistant awareness,
when they are ready,
they will ‘let go’ of you.

For the more you resist your fear,
the more it controls you.

The more you try to be ‘free from’
your sadness or your anger,
the more of a victim you feel.

Instead, know that you are Presence,
Life Itself, the great Field in which
fear, anger and sadness are allowed
to live, grow, and die.

You’ve let go of your attempts to ‘let go’.
You’ve let feelings come,
and you’ve let feelings go, effortlessly,
in their own sweet time.

Feelings were only ever seeking sanctuary
in the vastness of your Heart.

Don’t run; be love, instead.  ~Jeff Foster

Think of one part of yourself that you wish would go away and let Jeff’s words – Don’t run, be love, instead – connect with that part.  How do you do this with a mind that has been conditioned to run, to get away from whatever if doesn’t like? You first start with breathing into it, giving it room (even your resistance to breathing into it and giving it room). If resistance is here, let it be here. When resistance is loved enough, it begins to let go. When you first start learning to breathe into your body and feel the sensations, scary feelings can wash over you like a tsunami wave. But know that these scary feelings – deep-seated fear, shame, despair, loneliness, anger, and judgment – are nothing to be afraid of. They are just states of mind. They are like clouds in the sky and they pass right on through you when you meet them rather than resisting them. 

Remember, every single part of you, especially the parts you don’t like, are only ever seeking sanctuary in the vastness of your Heart. Rather than trying to let go of something, when you meet whatever you are experiencing with spaciousness and compassion, your bound up energy let’s go!

Image of Kyoto by Marlies Merk Najaka  www.watercolorart.com