Since I posted the piece about my son being out in he world earlier this week, this idea of letting go has been swirling around in my head. Not just letting go of him, but everything that holds me back, that does not serve me.

Letting go of my need to know. Letting go of my need to control. Letting go of my attachment to outcome. Letting go of years of accumulated pain.

Once I really start poking around, I realize that I try to maintain an iron grip on many things. I’ve been doing it all my life, so I’ve become very good at it. And you know what else? It’s really freaking exhausting!

And as so often happens, the wisdom comes, if I am open and paying attention. Here are a few nuggets that have come my way in the last few days. Precisely when I need it.

Eckhart Tolle believes we create and maintain problems because they give us a sense of identity.

Thomas Merton says that we spend our whole life climbing up the ladder of supposed success, and when we get to the top of the  ladder we realize it is leaning against the wrong wall—and there is nothing at the top. To get back to the place of inherent abundance, you have to let go of all of the false agendas, unreal goals, and passing self-images. The spiritual life is more about unlearning than learning, because the deepest you already knows.

Then this from Richard Rohr.

“To let go of something is to admit it. You have to own it. Letting go is different than turning it against yourself; different than projecting it onto others. Letting go means that the denied, repressed, rejected parts of yourself, which are nonetheless true, are seen for what they are; but you refuse to turn them against yourself or against others. You refuse to let any negative storyline or self-serving agenda define your life.

This is a very, very different way of living; it implies that you see your mistakes, your dark side, but you do not identify with either your superiority or your inferiority.

You are a conduit, and your only job is not to stop the flow. What comes around will also go around. The art of letting go is really the secret of happiness and freedom.”

Neil Donald Walsch says you must be willing to lose it all before you can have it all. What does this mean? It means that until you can let go of everything, you will find it hard to hold onto anything. Detachment is the key.

And this meditation mantra from Deepak Chopra: “I forgive; I release; I let go of anything and anyone that keeps me from my highest good.”

And finally this from Lao Tzu…which says so much in very few words: “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

Thanks for the wisdom and inspiration. Time now to practice. Time to let go and make room for something new.