Leap and the net will appear

In the past 6 months as I’ve made literal big moves in my life and come face to face with some triumphs and challenges, I’ve realized that one of the things I’ve really had to work on is letting go.

Letting go of things, of people, of thoughts, of plans...and also becoming aware of the flip side of letting go - holding on.

In yoga we talk a lot about the practice of non-atttachment. In a yoga class setting we may think in terms of letting go of expectations about how our bodies can or should move, letting go of competition with other students, or letting go of the outside distractions that we left in order to get to class.

This practice on the mat is kind of like a training-wheels version of what non-attachment looks like in our daily lives, off the mat.

What non-attachment looks like in real life may be a little more subtle, can be a bit more complicated, and often has a lot of difficult emotions surrounding it.

Why do we hold on?

Our brains don’t like change. Change is scary. We like to be able to predict what’s next, to know how things are going to turn out. That feels safer, even when we feel stuck or don’t really like where we are, it’s familiar. We’ve learned how to deal with it.

We hold on to things in our lives that once served us. Maybe it’s a material thing that we once used or loved, maybe it’s a relationship that once brought us joy, maybe it’s an idea of how things were going to be or should have been.

Until we’re forced to, we don’t usually look for opportunities to question what we’re holding on to and why. If we have space for it, we keep it. If we aren’t absolutely miserable, we put up with it. We just get used to what we keep around without getting curious about the value that these things and people and thoughts are adding to our lives.

We hold on to the familiar.

We hold on to a future we imagined.

We hold on to how things were or how we wish they’d be.

We hold on because we are trying to feel a certain way - or - trying not to feel a certain way.

Even when we know that letting go would be better for us in the long run, we hold on. We hold on because letting go can be terrifying. Letting go might hurt someone else’s feelings. Letting go might be hard or make you feel difficult emotions that you really don’t want to feel.

It takes courage to question if these things or relationships or beliefs are still for our greater good. Especially when these things and relationships and beliefs once served us, choosing to let them go can be really hard.

Why should we let go?

Letting go opens us up for heartbreak and uncertainty but it also opens us up to realize how much more we deserve than what we’ve been settling for.

Letting go is an act of faith, of trust that what’s next will be better than what we’re letting go of.

Letting go of what we thought we knew makes room for new ideas, new outlooks, new experiences, new relationships.

Letting go of what we thought would be our future makes room for the incredible possibilities ahead for us that we couldn’t have even imagined.

Letting go of who we were, of our old patterns and behaviors, makes room for who we’re becoming - who we’re meant to be.

Letting go teaches us that we’re not in control, we never actually have been and we never really will be. Learning this truth is incredibly freeing and opens us up to the limitless possibilities that God has in store for us.

Letting go is trusting in the flow of the universe and knowing that everything that is meant for you will come to you.

Choosing to step out into the unknown takes incredible bravery. Letting go of the known and facing the unknown takes faith and courage. But I promise it’s worth it.

You have one precious life and you get to choose how you live it. What do you need to let go of  in order to choose your life?

I hope my experiences remind you that even when it feels like it, you're never alone. I'm right there with you, using and sharing all the resources I have to navigate through life as gracefully as possible. ❤️