Letting Go! – Positive Reflection Of The Week
Letting Go, The Struggle Within – By Shahwana Khanam
The phrase “let it go” used to really irritate me because I didn’t know what it meant or exactly how to do it. And there are times when I still struggle with it a lot. Holding on to the past and holding on to items like clothes, utensils, tools that no longer really serve their purpose sometimes is a struggle.
We have memories attached to all that we hang on to, sometimes they represent sentimental values. For example, a pair of shoes that no longer fit and are torn now, we find ourselves hanging on to it because ‘mum gave this to me’, we believe somehow by hanging onto that pair of shoes, will connect to that same memory of a happy moment and will help relive the past! If it’s a happy memory perhaps that gives us comfort, however, there are thoughts and items which bring the unpleasant past alive again. Have you got such items in the house? In your mind? Well, time to say goodbye to those who add no value but add perhaps clutter, or just sit there with not much use. Now the clutter is not only physical items we must know that, but the mind also has lots of such cluttered things gathered into it. It’s time to let go of the past and move on to a fresher you!
But the kind of letting go that involves a conscious choice versus a physical action, can be extremely challenging and scary. It can also be painful as hell if it’s not something you’re ready to do: especially if your heart and mind are singing two different songs. Letting go in this sense is releasing all doubt, worry, and fear about a situation, person or outcome. It’s releasing anything that disrupts your happiness and no longer serves you on your journey.
‘Letting go’ is a choice to make; that you will no longer ruminate on things that are out of your control, and focus on what you can control, instead. Letting go creates space for fresh beginnings: stripping you of what happened yesterday, and enabling the doors of brand new opportunities to open today. Letting go is about accepting what is happening right now and not worrying about what will come up tomorrow.
It is a process one day at a time! Start by listing the smaller things you need to let go of, take baby steps to get to the bigger step in life.
A friend lost her husband in the battle of Cancer some years ago, she was so attached to everything owned by him that she was not ready to part with anything that belonged to him for years! She was daily looking at the things like trying smell the clothes he wore and that only reminded herself of the grief daily. The result, once a happy person we knew turned in to this dull and gloomy person, hardly smiling feeling miserable daily. Her children were affected by this action, as they never saw the same jolly, happy mum again. Is this the end? After a few counselling sessions of being this way for 5 years plus after her health started taking a toll on her, she decided to see a councillor to help her take some brave steps. The first recommendations were to release the pain and let go. She cleared the stuff her husband gave them by giving it away to charity and after a few weeks of the bravery of letting go, she said “I have not felt this lighter in years” .
As a gentle reminder, it’s important that we honour where we are on our individual journeys of letting go. This is a process that may be more challenging for some than others. Know that wherever you are right now, is okay.
The more we can simply watch our thoughts come and go without attaching our identity to them, the easier letting go becomes. Put your thoughts on paper and see the magic within.
The truth is unless you let go. unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward. – Steve Maraboli
In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself. – Deepak Chopra
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need. – Tao Te Ching
You’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old – whatever “the old” means for you. – Sarah Ban Breathnach
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energy moving forward together towards an answer. – Denis Waitley
Shahwana Khanam – Pranic Healer