Every day, all of us have to make decisions as to what to keep in our lives and what to discard. Letting go of old habits, relationships, thought patterns, belief systems, or lifestyles we’ve espoused or held onto for a long time is not an easy task. We are challenged (sometimes by our own will and sometimes by circumstance) to examine and re-examine our own personal values as we strive to grow and ripen as seasoned human beings. In mulling over this very task of our daily life, I’ve come to reflect the following:
To let go doesn’t 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. It’s also about respecting our individual differences and being okay with the inevitable disparity.
To let go is not to enable but to allow learning from natural consequences so as to better myself.
To let go is to admit powerlessness and limitations of our own and others which means to the outcome is not in my hands.
To let go is not to try to change or blame another. I can only change myself.
To let go is not to care for but to care about.
To let go is not to judge but to allow another to be a human being.
To let go is not be protective but rather to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny but to accept.
To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue but to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them first and foremost even if I repeatedly fail to do so.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires but to take each day as it comes and to cherish the moment.
To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To let go is not to regret the past but to grow and live in the present with an eye to the future.
To let go is to fear less and love more.
