Today I am amazed at the things our children have done and their wide range
of interests. They are all living their lives and not the ones I would have planned
for them. But I have learned that their lives are theirs, not mine, and in living
their own lives they have given me experiences and an education I would never
have had if I’d been fool enough to make them do what I thought they should do.
There are things that we never want to let go
of, people we never want to leave behind.
But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end
of the world; it’s the beginning of a new life.
If only you could see that looking back into an incomplete and imperfect past, with regret, blame, guilt
or resentment is keeping you from the treasures that await you here now.
The past has gone. You cannot rectify something that is no longer with you.
Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing
you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is
not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing
which keeps you from hope and love?
Letting go doesn't mean we don't care. Letting go doesn't mean we shut down.
Letting go means we stop trying to force outcomes and make people behave.
It means we give up resistance to the way things are, for the moment.
It means we stop trying to do the impossible--controlling that which
we cannot--and instead, focus on what is possible--which usually means
taking care of ourselves. And we do this in gentleness, kindness,
and love, as much as possible.
As I started to picture the trees in the storm,
the answer began to dawn on me. The trees in the
storm don't try to stand up straight and tall and
erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown
with the wind. They understand the power of
letting go. Those trees and those branches that
try too hard to stand up strong and straight are
the ones that break.
To let go isn't to forget, not to think about, or ignore. It doesn't
leave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret. Letting go isn't about
winning or losing. It's not about pride and it's not about how you
appear, and it's not obsessing or dwelling on the past. Letting go
isn't blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and it doesn't leave
emptiness, hurt, or sadness. It's not about giving in or giving up.
Letting go isn't about loss and it's not about defeat. To let go is
to cherish the memories, but to overcome and move on. It is having
an open mind and confidence in the future. Letting go is learning
and experiencing and growing. To let go is to be thankful for the
experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and made you grow.
It's about all that you have, all that you had, and all that you will
soon gain. Letting go is having the courage to accept change,
and the strength to keep moving. Letting go is growing up. It is
realizing that the heart can sometimes be the most potent remedy.
To let go is to open a door, and to clear a path and set yourself free.
One wears one's mind out in study, and yet has more mind
with which to study. One gives away one's heart in love
and yet has more heart to give away. One perishes out of pity
for a suffering world, and is stronger therefore. So, too, it is possible
at one and the same time to hold on to life and let go.
In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?
To "let go" does not mean to stop caring.
It means I can't do it for someone else.
It means I can't do it for someone else.
To "let go" is not to cut myself off.
It's the realization that I can't control another.
It's the realization that I can't control another.
To "let go" is to admit powerlessness,
which means the outcome is not in my hands.
which means the outcome is not in my hands.
To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another.
It's to make the most of myself.
It's to make the most of myself.
To "let go" is not to care for, but to care about.
To "let go" is not to fix, but to be supportive.
To "let go" is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
To "let go" is not to be in the middle, arranging all the outcomes,
but to allow others to affect their own destinies.
but to allow others to affect their own destinies.
To "let go" is not to deny, but to accept.
To "let go" is not to nag, scold, or argue,
but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.
but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.
To "let go" is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.
