WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT ABOUT LETTING GO?

Recently I heard a poem entitled "let go." This poem by an unknown author repeatedly talks about why it is important to let go. What is it that we are supposed to be letting go? The poem states that it is not about stopping caring but the recognition that we can't do it for others. Also an awareness that we can't control others. Letting go is also not about caring for, but it is caring about. It is not about enabling others to not take responsibility for themselves, but it is about encouraging and supporting others to be responsible for themselves. Finally, letting go is not to judge or criticize others but for us to choose to start becoming who we were meant to be. Criticizing and judging others focuses us away from learning who we are meant to be. Freed from the burdon of critically focusing on others we have an opportunity to see ourselves and others more clearly. 

So, why is letting go so important? I believe it is because we are letting go of a need to control other people or have other people respond to us in a certain way. It is realizing that what we worry about is actually not important and it is much better to just see what happens in our lives, including being open to the possibility that when we encourage and support others, instead of judging them, we might even see them as human, just like we are.

What do you think?

LET IT GO, LET IT GO!

I was listening to a young woman talk about a recent argument with her boyfriend that she could not stop thinking about.   I recalled a story that I had read about two monks walking down a muddy road when they saw a woman dressed very nicely on the side of the road.  Her clothes would be muddy if she walked across the road.  One of the monks walked over and carried her across to the other side. The two monks resumed walking and then 5 hours later the other monk asked why he had carried the woman across the road.  The monk answered "I carried her for 30 seconds, you have been carrying her for 5 hours."  The young woman I was listening to had been carrying her feelings and worries about her boyfriend for 7 days and counting.  I then started thinking about a popular song and at first thought of the "Happy" song that she thought was irritating since it is played so much on the radio.  Then I remembered the song I was thinking about was from the movie "Frozen."  She told me that she loved that song and I asked her if she knew what the title was.  She couldn't remember and then suddenly yelled out "Let it go!"  I smiled and kept looking at her.  She then smiled back and said "I guess I should let it go."

So, what is this letting go thing?  Maybe some of the lyrics from the song will help clarify the meaning of let it go.  In the song, she sings about no longer hiding who she really is and then sings:"Let it go. Can't hold it back anymore...Turn away and slam the door. I don't care what they're going to say....It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me.  I'm free....Here I"ll stand and here I"ll stay....My soul is spiraling....I'm never going back; the past is in the past! Let it go, let it go.  And I'll rise like the break of dawn....Here I stand in the light of day."  She also repeatedly sings "the cold never bothered me anyway."  I wonder if her saying that the cold never has bothered her is her effort to control her fears of ending up all alone now that she has stopped hiding who she is, what is important to her, and how she wants to live her life.  The lyrics are all about her encouraging herself to keep pursuing what is important to her and not to hide who she is anymore.  This leads to her feeling free and not held back by other people's rights and wrongs and rules.  She sings her way through the night and is trying not to be afraid to be herself and stand up for herself even in the light of day.  One could even say that her courage to be true to herself brings on the light.   

So, what is she letting go?  What do we all need to let go?  There may be some hints in the lyrics, such as "I'm never going back, the past is in the past." So, how can we do this?  Well, some other lyrics might give us suggestions..."No right, no wrong, no rules for me."  Is this suggesting reckless, do whatever we want behavior?  Or does it mean not letting other people's rules control us and deciding for ourselves what is best to do.  So, to become who we are meant to be, all we need to do is let go of the past, worries about the future and other peoples's rules and judgement of us.  Then what?  Then we will have the joy of seeing what happens next.  It is that simple.  :)