Back in the last century, I had to let go of a doomed relationship that had already let go of me. To help myself in the process, I asked everyone I met: "What is the hardest thing you ever had to let go of?" "My freedom," said a new mother. "My youth," said someone who had just turned 40. People told me that it was hard letting go of jobs, friends, homelands, beliefs, and resentments.
One friend, a graphic artist, said this: "For years I was ready to buy a house. I had an image of the house I wanted. It had to be modern in some ways, but cosy and old-fashioned in other ways. The problem was that the house of my imagination didn't exist. I poured tens of thousands of dollars into rent instead of into a mortgage. When I finally let go of the house in my head, I found a great place. In the end - letting go was easy, hanging on was hard... it stopped me from growing."
Fears sit just below the surface of the difficulty of letting go. If we bring our fears into the light and face them, letting go might be easier.
I've heard others tell me this is cooky.
ReplyDeleteI've had to let go of a drama within relationship that existed in another lifetime. It was hard enough to even accept that I existed in another lifetime, let alone forgive someone who's really done nothing wrong in this lifetime. Weird. But beautiful.