Today I am amazed at the things our children have done and their wide rangeof interests. They are all living their lives and not the ones I would have plannedfor them. But I have learned that their lives are theirs, not mine, and in livingtheir own lives they have given me experiences and an education I would neverhave 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 goof, people we never want to leave behind.But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the endof 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, guiltor 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 nothingyou can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It isnot yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thingwhich 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 whichwe cannot--and instead, focus on what is possible--which usually meanstaking 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 thestorm don't try to stand up straight and tall anderect. They allow themselves to bend and be blownwith the wind. They understand the power ofletting go. Those trees and those branches thattry too hard to stand up strong and straight arethe ones that break.
To let go isn't to forget, not to think about, or ignore. It doesn'tleave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret. Letting go isn't aboutwinning or losing. It's not about pride and it's not about how youappear, and it's not obsessing or dwelling on the past. Letting goisn't blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and it doesn't leaveemptiness, 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 isto cherish the memories, but to overcome and move on. It is havingan open mind and confidence in the future. Letting go is learningand experiencing and growing. To let go is to be thankful for theexperiences 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 willsoon gain. Letting go is having the courage to accept change,and the strength to keep moving. Letting go is growing up. It isrealizing 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 mindwith which to study. One gives away one's heart in loveand yet has more heart to give away. One perishes out of pityfor a suffering world, and is stronger therefore. So, too, it is possibleat 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.
To "let go" is not to cut myself off.
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.
To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another.
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.
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.
To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,
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.
