by Matt Kahn, October 6, 2019, mattkahn.org
In order to know the benefits of letting go, it is essential to first identify what you might be holding on to.
Perhaps you are holding onto a dream of how you want your life to be? And, of course, the purpose of life is to grow, so it is natural and important to always strive toward greater horizons of experience. But when any degree of striving for change overlooks the equally important facet of appreciating all that you have — an imbalance occurs.
In this space of imbalance, where more time is spent striving towards something different than appreciating exactly the way life happens to be, you experience a degree of shutting down, known commonly as sadness.
When you are shut down in sadness it is nearly instinctive to believe that you can only feel differently once your life circumstances become different.
In sadness, it is common to believe, “if I am unable to snap my fingers and make external circumstances better, there goes any chance of feeling better.” Such a belief only amplifies the self-defeat, misery, and agony shutting down conveys. It is partially true– something in your life does need to change in order to inspire transformation in your emotional experiences, but it only needs to be the changing of your perspective.
In order for such incredible shifts to occur, let’s explore the fundamental rhythm of reality that when overlooked, facilitates the shutting down you are eager to dissolve and unravel. No matter how many years you’ve been on this planet, how few or how many mystical experiences you’ve had, or even the amount of grief, neglect or abuse you’ve endured, all human beings experience a rhythm of perpetual change. During reoccurring periods of inevitable change, there are two cycles at play…cycles of renewal and erosion.
In renewal, old things become new. In erosion new things become old.
Throughout the human condition, it is normal to be positively elated by the birth of new creations that renewal so often provides. Equally so, it is also normal for the elation experienced in renewal to flatten or seem empty as new things become old. It is lovely to receive a bouquet of flowers, which isn’t the same experience when all the petals fall off with stems steeped in murky water.
It’s glorious to manifest exciting new opportunities, which inevitably become less exciting once something new becomes that ‘same old thing’. This also happens in relationships, where the passion of a brand-new love affair fades into the boredom of everyday life. Again, this is a normal way of functioning within the human condition. This means it is normal for how ego perceives, but not nearly as incredibly as your soul sees your life.
When you view from your soul’s perspective, you are inherently emotionally free. You are able to strive towards goals, while always making time to appreciate all that’s been given by honoring all the experiences that have come to be. You are able to cherish the fact that new things are only set to become old things, while the space created from this process only gives rise to the creation of newer things to be.
From this space of emotional freedom, you are able to equally embrace renewal and erosion for their transformative benefits, no matter how much pleasure or pain will be felt.
In ego, you are conditioned to seek pleasure primarily to avoid the anticipation of pain. Since the ego’s perception of joy, elation, and arousal could only be noticed in the absence of pain, it is your primary way of functioning in the human condition to be your most open, positive and loving self during cycles of renewal, only to shut down, lash out, and turn away the moment erosion dawns.
Since renewal naturally leads to erosion and erosion only clears space for greater renewal, the art of letting go is relinquishing a need to control it.
This is the cornerstone of emotional freedom. It is the central theme of the new heart-centered spiritual paradigm– to be able to gain joyfully and lose with the utmost nobility. It is your soul’s ability to embody the resilience of transformation that comes about as a result of old things becoming new and new things becoming old throughout a rhythm of endless change.
This is precisely what the Universe urges you to learn and embody at this time: to temper your deepest desire for change with an equal amount of time appreciating all that you have and its purpose of helping you reach your absolute potential.
And it’s urging you to be excited for all the new horizons of experience always coming your way, while being equally respectful of the limited time you have with certain people, places, and things — only existing exactly as they are for the personal growth and spiritual expansion this period of time is meant to provide you.
Best of all, you are able to flow through life with renewed courage, enthusiasm, passion and joy, knowing your happiness and fulfillment are not based on the circumstances you control, but how deeply aligned you are with your soul’s clearest view.
Throughout each passing breath, may you make peace with renewal and erosion, not afraid to receive the things that will one day be lost, nor adrift in endless seeking as a way of trying to outrun the winds of fate. May you honor the equal gifts that both pleasure and pain inspire, not needing to always be in pain in order to grow, or always needing constant pleasure to confirm your worth and value.
May you let go of viewing life from the ego’s belief in punishment, so you may enter your soul’s domain of endless rewards. From this space, everything that comes and goes will always leave you more evolved than before you gained it.
As you let go, may you absolve the tendency of criticizing yourself whenever renewal begins to erode. May you wake up from the ego’s quest for never-ending perfection, only imagining a need to improve as a way to inspire a life of endless gain that cannot exist without the inevitability of loss.
With the Universe guiding your every step, may you honor the ‘nothing’ you’ve ever done wrong that was always right for the outcome each moment was meant to create.
May you let go so profoundly that the pleasure of gain can be recognized throughout each moment, even when it is the gaining of maturity or the expansion of perspective — no matter what must be lost, in order for such gains to occur.
May you come into a harmonious relationship with reality, seeing how natural it is to gain until you lose, and then lose until you gain– utilizing the friction created through contrast to melt the edges of your limitations.
This is the plan the Universe always has for you: to become your most magnificent expression of Source energy — no matter the ups and downs that orbit each outcome. Despite the pain of your past or the uncertainty of your current circumstances, the art of letting go is here to show you the way into a more miraculous way of being.