We are born holding on tight. We are NOT wired to let go. Our little brains tell us from the moment of birth to grab onto whatever you can and hold on fiercely and don’t…..let…..go!

Photo Credit: cesarr terrio via Compfight cc

There are some things we never outgrow throughout our entire lives. Holding tightly to what we have seems to be one of those things. In its most extreme form, some people become hoarders and their entire life revolves around hanging on to everything! Thanks to our pop culture, we have reality TV shows which depict our ‘grab on’ tendency in its most extreme state. This gives us a picture of how holding on too tightly could end up. If you have all your shoes since childhood and every newspaper back to 1972, you might be a great candidate for a reality TV show!

The problem with holding on so tightly is we don’t have room to reach out and take hold of new life when it shows up. Our hands and our hearts become so full of what has been, there is no room for what will be. So we suffer, life gets stale, relationships break down, purpose fades, passion wanes, and we white-knuckle life hoping it never changes.

All of life revolves around cycles and seasons. Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. The tide comes in and out every day, twice! Our bodies are strong, then weak, then old, then dead. Fruit is produced during certain times of the year, then the vines, plants, and trees lie dormant until the next season. All of life has its seasons of life, growth, production, dormancy, decay, death, and rebirth.

If I can learn to participate with the seasons of my life, everything in my life will become so much more enjoyable. If I can let go when a season is over, I make room for the new season of life. I now can participate with the birth of the new. I am authoring the new thing. I let go, make space, then I let come.

Letting Go, Letting Come

1. Recognize when a season is over

Don’t argue with life when the leaves fall from the trees, when the sun goes down, or when you can no longer run or hike the trail in record time. Pay attention to the passion and when its gone, don’t try to keep pressing through, you will only break things.

2. When you see a season is over, let go of what was

Celebrate it, honor it, cherish it, learn from it, and let it go. Don’t keep trying to prop it up. Don’t allow today to be anchored in yesterday. Stop re-living it over and over hoping the outcome will change. It won’t. Let it be what it was and you will free yourself from the false belief that you can change the past

3. Make room for what will be

Clean out your closet, sweep your garage, open your heart, free up your mind. There is a new season emerging. New life is blooming! Make the space for it. Prepare to welcome the new chapter of your life.

4. Enjoy the new thing fully, and hold it loosely

Smell that rose and its fragrance, observe its beautiful color, touch the soft petals. But don’t crush it. Don’t hold it so tightly that it loses its beauty. Let it be beautiful. Enjoy it completely. Allow it to BE.

What needs to be released in your life? What do you need to let go of?

What is trying to come into existence? What is trying to be born? Where do you need to make space for the new?