Letting Go
TO "LET GO" TAKES LOVE
By Barbara McRae, MCC
Have you ever told yourself, "I need to just let go
of that?" Were
you able to do it easily? For most of us, letting go is no
small feat.
You know that you don't like feeling the way you are feeling,
but
you're not sure how to let go without also becoming ambivalent
(or
worse!).
Most clients I coach think that letting go means no longer
caring about
a particular person or situation. Because they feel badly,
they want to
stop feeling all together. This strategy of caring less is
not what it
means to let go. So, what does it mean?
Recently, I came across this wonderful description of what
it takes to
truly let go. You'll find it below. (Sorry the author is unknown
to me;
if any of you know who deserves credit for it, let me know.)
To "let go" does not mean to stop caring, it means
I can't do it for
someone else.
To "let go" is not to cut myself off, it is the
realization I can't
control another.
To "let go" is not to enable, but to allow learning
from natural
consequences.
To "let go" is to admit powerlessness, which means
the outcome is not
in my hands.
To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another,
it is to make the
most of myself.
To "let go" is not to care for, but to care about.
To "let go" is not to fix, but to be supportive.
To "let go" is not to judge, but to allow another
to be a human being.
To "let go" is not to be in the middle of arranging
all the outcomes,
but to allow others to affect their own destinies.
To "let go" is not to be protective, it is to permit
another to face
reality.
To "let go" is not to deny, but to accept.
To "let go" is not to nag, scold or argue, but
instead to search out
my own shortcomings and allow God to correct them.
To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,
but to take each
day as it comes and to cherish it.
To "let go" is not to criticize and regulate anybody,
but to try to
become what God wants me to become.
To "let go" is not to regret the past, but to grow
and to live for the
future.
To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.
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