May 16, 2010

Sunday with LiveSisterLive: Letting Go

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” — Herman Hesse

I don't know how your day, week or month has gone, but I have had my share of life's hard to let go moments.  This has been a heavy mentoring month that reminds me as women we can hold on to relationships that do our life more harm than good if not handled in a way that heals us.

What I Call the "Holding On & Hard to Let Go Month"

May is always an interesting month filled with things we hold on to, like the love of a mother and the loss of a mother. It's a month where women participate in  breast cancer awareness weeks, walks and runs, many of who are living with the loss of health. This is the month when college graduates hold on to the memories of their college years and letting go of school years.  For others, it's not the month, but another month of holding on to what once was, like a job, relationship or friendship.

How do you live life like it matters and let go?

I have had my share of letting go moments in my life and would have to agree with the author of the quote, it can make you stronger than the holding on.  

I don't agree that many people feel that holding on makes us feel stronger. It just makes us feel like not moving or doing anything.  Sometimes strength from an issue that we hold on to comes from matters of time and healing.  A woman who has lost her mother will hold on to the memory because her mother matters.  The college graduate holding on to what once may just be afraid of what's ahead, and may not realize that the future is now what matters.  In relationships that break, the feelings of people who matter to us are what keeps us holding on even if for now we have to let go of them.

5 ways to let go  in a way that matters.

1. Let go with faith and a prayer; turn what you are holding on to, over to God; trust that a broken relationship can heal even if it's only in your heart and not another's
2. Let go by grieving the loss you hold on to,  seeking help from wise advisors who can talk you through all you are feeling
3. Let go by telling yourself you cannot control what people do, how people treat you or even perceive you
4. Let go by finding strength in all the good that has come to you through another person having entered or left your life or this world
5. Let go and live like right now is what matters, not the pain of yesterday,but in the memories of what was good yesterday

Sometimes, you can make life matters a little bit better like listening to a great letting go song like this one from singer Dwayne Woods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilaV1YYwZJ8&feature=related

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the reflection into our souls.
    There is something visceral about letting go. You feel it in the core of your very being. It is a subtraction of your life. Sometimes as small as crushed ice, sometimes as large as an iceberg. The smallest babies can be the most difficult to deliver. God knows that the act of the release is difficult, but He requires it for our growth. "You" must decrease in order for Him increase in your life.

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