Do you want transformation in your life? To have the tools and practices for living in alignment with your true self? Do you want more peace, presence, and fulfillment? I've been teaching and coaching others for almost two decades to live more awake and engaged lives through mindfulness practices, expressive arts, and self-discovery exercises. Join me on the journey.
Let It Go
On Letting GoLetting Go is an Act of Self-love. When we can’t let go of the past, we can’t allow the beauty and wisdom of the present to shine through. As I plan for this Saturday’s 1-day retreat, I reflect on the theme of self-love. However, what keeps echoing in my mind is a question recently posed to me: “How do you let go?” Letting go is something we address during retreats and circles as we incorporate activities and rituals to practice releasing what no longer serves us: habits, situations, unhelpful thoughts, or belief systems. The wonderful thing about facilitating circles and mindfulness exploration is that I often get asked questions that lead me to my own meditations and reflections on themes. Here I find that the two themes—self-love and letting go— are connected. Letting go is an act of self-love. Letting Go Means You Must Shed the Outer Skin Rumi writes, “Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” Yet, I feel that so much of letting go is cyclical. Picture a coil that spirals out into eternity. I am trying to embrace that cyclical nature of letting go, as cycles appear in all aspects of life. It feels frustrating at times, but one must remember that with each journey around the spiral we are not back at the starting point, but at a further evolutionary place on the coil. Letting go means you are willing to blossom like the seed shedding its protective sleeve. Letting go means you know you must shed the outer skin, dull and lifeless like a snake's, to feel the tender new you ready to bask in some unknown sun. To stay in the old, too small skin becomes a pain you are no longer willing to bear. Not all change or letting go feels good. In fact, it almost always comes with discomfort. The mind clings fast to what it knows, that old familiar pain. Yet, the watcher within you–that is all consciousness, all creativity, and the universe waiting to express itself more fully through you—knows you must let go and must follow the pain to its end. Let it, and you, rest for something new to appear. Letting Go Isn’t So Much a Balance, but a Choice Again and again, we must make a decision about what we want—happiness or being right, holding onto limiting beliefs or embracing positivity and another truth; do I stay with the devil I know or choose hope, choose more? Letting go isn’t so much a balance as Rumi suggests, but a choice. We always have a choice with how we see and respond to loss or letting go. Can we appreciate the value or lesson? As I said to the circle member who asked the question regarding letting go, What a wonderful gift to realize that you want to let go, to open your eyes and heart. How responsible of you to be reborn, to refuse to unsee what it is you now know, and to move toward the light. Letting go is not wrong or weak; it is bold and brave. What you are afraid of is already with you. It’s already causing you pain and is a drain on your energy. When we ignore or deny this fact, we dishonor ourselves. We lose confidence in ourselves. Do you want to stay stuck, or risk unfolding into something more beautiful—like the flower. You serve no one, none, nothing, refusing to unfurl and reveal your truth and your beauty. There is more to this life than what you have been choosing. Eventually, you must be willing to let go, to turn yourself inside out like that snake skin...even when you know that letting go is never permanent. The snake's skin grows back. The radiant tulip rots and returns to the earth that gave it birth. But there is growth, change; nothing is ever the same as it was. For this you must be willing. Some Journal Prompts to Consider:
I’d love to hear your thoughts on letting go? What have been the hardest things to let go? How did you do it? What happened next? Want to come to the February 10th Women's Mindfulness Retreat?
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Barred Owl Retreat
Do you want transformation in your life? To have the tools and practices for living in alignment with your true self? Do you want more peace, presence, and fulfillment? I've been teaching and coaching others for almost two decades to live more awake and engaged lives through mindfulness practices, expressive arts, and self-discovery exercises. Join me on the journey.
Dear Reader, First, thank you to the folks who showed up last week for the Start Centered online mindfulness circle. I so appreciated the company and really needed it. Why? A growing cloud of loss and change dominated life leading up to the holidays this year. We put to sleep my dear dog and greatest companion of 16 years; my family, immediate and extended, had shifted and morphed leaving a disconnect and a change in traditions; my body suffered new injuries leading to decreased vitality and...
Dear Reader, I recently posted pictures on Facebook of the dogs resting nose to nose; the caption read, “The more time I spend with them, the more dog I become.” As we all know, there are many lessons to be learned from dogs — like, love unconditionally, be loyal, stop to smell the roses (or more likely other foul smelling substances), and just be. It’s this last lesson that relates to the Dutch term niksen that I want to share with you. Embracing Niksen: The Art of Doing Nothing for Greater...
Dear Reader, “The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be.” — Konrad Lorenz, zoologist and founding father of ethology, the study of animal behavior When I started this note days ago, I wanted to discuss presence and how the vitality and richness of life come down to present-moment awareness. Since then, I have been spending every moment with my ailing, almost-16-year-old dog, Carmelita, or Carma as we most often call her. Our time together in the past weeks...