In Letting Go, It All Gets Done

"Let go...

Or be dragged."

Zen Saying

It is said that when Siddartha Guatama (also known as the Buddha), walked the earth, he was constantly directing his monks to 'let go'. In the same way, Lao Tzu, the Grandfather of Taoism wrote in the Tao Te Ching, "In letting go, it all gets done.," while Jesus is known to have told his disciples, "Be as passers-by." This sage advice from these great teachers is not an invitation to just sit down and do nothing (though sometimes that is the wisest course of action)., it is an invitation to let go of the ego/mind's tendency to try and control everything in our lives, and force things to be the way we think they should be. This is very timely advice for all of us as we move through the uncertainty and turmoil that is going on in the world, and in our own lives right now. It seems that, during these past four years, many of us have gone through incredible upheaval, and might be feeling a deep anxiety or sadness with all the changes that have come about.

Yet no matter how hard we might try to hold on to what has passed away, these changes continue to unfold, regardless of whether we accept them or not. As we try (in vain) to hold on to what is passing, or resist what is unfolding right now, we can become exhausted from fighting against the direction that life is flowing. When we try and convince ourselves that we really do have control over what will happen next, we end up exhausting ourselves needlessly, while the control we seek slips through our fingers anyway. If these past years have shown us anything, and we are honest, we simply have no idea what is going to happen next, let alone the ability to control it.

The good news is that, It is in times exactly like these that we find the greatest opportunity for spiritual freedom, for we realize - after all of our other strategies have failed - that the only thing we CAN do to be at peace, is to let go...

Let go of our resistance to what is unfolding, and instead flow in the direction that Life is moving us.

Let go of the 'monkey mind' and its crazed attempts to control reality, and instead, relax and go with the Flow.

Let go of our anxiety and fear about what 'might happen'; and instead trust the Tao, knowing that it is carrying us to exactly where we need to be (Here and Now).

Let go of our cherished ideas and concepts about what 'should' be happening, and instead embrace what is actually unfolding in the Present Moment.

In this 'letting go', we find the peace and joy of living a life that is free of the burden of trying to control what can't be controlled. We also find the effortless ease of the present moment, which is always unfolding exactly as it should, whether we 'like' it or not. In this way, we open ourselves to the Divine Intelligence (the Tao), that is unfolding our lives perfectly in each moment. We begin to see that the only choice we really have then, is to hold on or to let go. One path will lead to peace and tranquility, and the other will lead to increasing unhappiness. What do you choose?