LETTING GO is an ever present theme in my work, but lately its re-emerged even more consistently. I’ve learned to pay close attention when I notice themes, especially when they re-surface. This time around what I’m noticing more clearly than ever is what goes hand and hand with LETTING GO:
The ever important skills of deciphering what is FOR YOU, and what is NOT.
There's a lot of hype and celebration around FOR YOU, i.e. "aha moments" and "saying yes" to things. I'm all for those moments, but what is necessary on the way to them, yet less celebrated, is getting clear on what is NOT FOR YOU, often followed by a process of letting go of it.
I think that's where things get sticky. It can seem more appropriate, even easier to say yes, hang on or plow through something. Of course, sometimes that's what's needed and is a very brave choice, but what about when it's not? How do you know? And, how do you let yourself let it go?
That level of knowing yourself, while not necessarily easy, is where clarity, freedom and joy will find you more easily. It’s a place where you allow yourself to decline small opportunities and even seemingly good offers and commitments in service of what is truly right for you.
I took a yoga class the other week and at the end of class during Shivasana--you know the part at the end that we all look forward to where you're just lying flat on the ground doing nothing--when we got to that part the teacher's instructions were:
"Take a breath and let yourself glide into letting go."
In my experience letting go is often a process and a loosening over time, but I also know that sometimes I make it harder than it needs to be by hanging on longer than is good for me, being scared of missing out, and unable to trust that letting go would open up space for what I really want. And that's okay, we eventually find our way and our time and perhaps we can all use the reminder that letting go can happen with ease, even if not once and for all, it can be a daily practice of allowing, taking a deep breath and gently gliding into the space of LETTING GO in service of what is FOR YOU.
Have a sense that a moment of change (big or small... sometimes its those small ones that are the most important) is arriving for you?
May you trust and lean into it. And, don't hesitate to reach out. Coaching is really good support for learning to let go, lean in and stick to the changes that are FOR YOU.