Letting Go

 

I recently came across the following prose by Safire Rose on letting go of struggle.  In various scriptures, “letting go” is called “surrender”.  However, surrender here doesn't mean surrendering to someone or something, nor does it mean surrendering to a belief or ideal.  It has to do with an inner letting go.

Letting go means I no longer argue with what life throws my way.  Instead, I meet life on life's terms by letting go of my strongly held opinions and need to be right.  Not that what I care about deeply doesn’t matter, it’s simply that these things no longer hold me in their fettered grip.  My happiness is no longer dependent on outer circumstances or what others say or do.  It’s completely an inside job.  I am free.

   

 “She let go.

Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.  She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.  She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the “right” reasons.  Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.  She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.  She just let go.  She let go of all of the memories that held her back.  She let go of all the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.  She let go of all the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.  She didn’t journal about it.  She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.  She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.  She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.  She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.  She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.  She didn’t call a prayer line, nor post it on Facebook. She didn’t utter one word.  She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.  There was no applause or congratulations.  No one thanked her or praised her.  No one noticed a thing.  Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.  There was no struggle.  It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.  It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.  A small smile came over her face.  A light breeze blew through her.  And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.”

-      Safire Rose