Monday, May 30, 2016

The Power of Letting Go

 



When you talk to someone observe your thoughts. One positive remark sets you blushing and happy and is sure to put you on top of Universe at least for the next ten minutes or may be for the next twenty-four hours. But, the charisma is for a very short period.  Similarly one negative remark and it makes our world topsy-turvy. Our mind dwells on negative feedback for a longer time, some continue to brood over it for three days, for weeks, for year, and even a life time.  That means, our mind has a tendency to forget the positive situation and dwell on the negativity. If we observe our daily routine from the time we wake up until we retire to bed, there are over hundred opportunities during the day for us to feel blessed, grateful, and happy. But, one negative incident or situation has more power to make our life seem miserable.

Positive people, we meet them every day and every minute of our lives, who give us beautiful memories to retire to bed with. But, have you observed who keeps you awake during night, it is those negative people and negative situations. They leave us tossing and turning on our bed late nights.  What do we love to hold on to? We love to hold on to negativity, we love to hold on to grudges, we love to hold on to failures, we love to hold on to fear, we love to hold on to our limiting beliefs.  And then, we enjoy blame games. But, take a moment and think about it – how does it serve us? Someone has done some wrong, some mistake, some error, some foolishness, some cruelty, some cheating – that was a past. It is not the present; the event has occurred and is over. It caused you the amount of pain and turmoil, yes there is no harm in feeling the pain in showing how hurt or dejected you are. However, is it really worth carrying it along with you every night to your bed, and spoiling your peace of mind, your health, and your family life?  The person, who has done wrong is sleeping peacefully at his home, while you are undergoing anxiety and depression thinking about it. Who gave this power to the negative person or the situation to hijack your sleep and health?

 What good has your resentment, your grudge or holding on to disappointment; rejection, grief and pain served you in life? It isn’t easy to let go, especially when someone has hurt you or cheated on you, but holding on to it will not make you a better person either. You want those negative people and situations to disappear from your life, well you have to learn to let go.  When we let go it is liberating, it is peaceful, and we open ourselves to new faces, new experiences and new relationships. It is hard to let go but that is where our growth happens.  We have a choice in life what to hold on to, and what we need to let go. Letting go is not a sign of weakness, or failure.  When you let go your fear to cross the comfort zone, you are being courageous and opening yourself to new opportunities. When you let go those people who have done wrong against you, you are granting yourself peace, and good health, you refuse to give power to those negative people.

It is perfectly okay to reject evil, but do not feed power to it. Do you remember the story of the Snake & Rope, we heard as small kids? It talks of a man walking home one evening, through the bushes. In the half-light he sees on the path a snake apparently crossing in front of him. He starts and jerks himself away, heart beating fast, wide-eyed and alert. Filled with fear, he is frozen on the street; the night seemed long and terrible, with all scary thoughts and imaginations. He even saw himself being bitten by the snake and his dead body floating around in the streets. He also saw his body being torn to pieces in the jungle by wild animals.  He died a 100 death that night. It was a terrible night. But, as it dawned and the sun rays  pierced through the bushes, he opened his eyes and was shocked to know what scared him to death entire night was just a piece of rope. Relieved and laughing to himself at his foolishness he goes to step over it and glancing down suddenly realizes the rope is a string of jewels. He gasps in awe.

As a kid every time I heard this story, it would make me wonder how foolish this man was to have mistaken a piece of rope to be a snake. But, then today when I look back, I find myself smiling at those situations and people that have terrified me as well, and caused such sleepless nights.  They came for a purpose and were gone, but I prisoned them in my thoughts in my mind. However, the moment I let them go I restored my ability to see clearly.  Evil dissolves when we let the light of compassion, love and knowledge flow in. 

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