The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for.
And the most you can do is live inside that hope.
Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
photo of a small cottage in the west of Ireland by louise price
The first step in any letting go is ‘stepping back’– non-involvement. This initiates letting go by unhooking the mind from the topic that is stirring it up. It’s not a matter of avoiding or suppressing the topic, but of seeing it in a clear and spacious way. Non-involvement is about settling back into the present moment, relaxing into the way things are right now; it’s about letting go of the ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts,’ the past, the future and the imaginary, and meeting things as they arise in the present. Letting go needs to be supported by a steady and focused mindfulness and clear comprehension. These provide the means whereby we can attend to what is happening now without trying to fix it. In this way, we check the feedback loop between behaviour and awareness, so that the mind finds a calm and steady place in the midst of changing feelings.
Ajahn Sucitto, Meditation, A Way of Awakening
We live a lot in our heads, our worries and fears. Meditation involves settling back into the support offered by the breath-in-the-body and getting a feel for the right balance there. This allows us to stay in touch with where we are, which balances the thinking mind’s preoccupation with who we are, with doing and with how we appear.
Living calls for the art of the wrestler, not the dancer
Staying on your feet is all;
there is no need for pretty steps
Marcus Aurelius
Every morning
I surrender to being here
I let go into gravity
It takes practice
To give up habitual holding on, holding in, holding back
Every morning I open myself
And invite grace to have its way with me
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
photo joolz
Sometimes things happen that we do not understand and we wish were otherwise. Rumi offers some solace:
Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave until it gets to the shore
Rumi
photo CC-BY
Another reflection on the calming effects of nature.
This famous haiku reflects on the letting go found under a tree when all things feel at home and we know that beauty is being born at every second. At times like this we treat all moments and all people as friends
In the cherry blossom’s shade
there’s no such thing
as a stranger
Kobayashi Issa, 1763 – 1828
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