I think there must be an art to letting go. A sweet release of everything extraneous and unnecessary. A paring down, uncomplicated by desires or expectations . Sounds peaceful and gentle doesn’t it? The reality of letting go for some of us is neither gentle nor remotely peaceful. We cling and grasp, leaving deep marks with our fingernails down the backs of the people we once loved. We suffer and wallow in self pity. Sometimes letting go gets tangled in our broken dreams and emotional turmoil. We love to complicate things, make them more than they are and think doing damage on our way out will take some of the pain of our loss away. Sometimes we think of letting go as a loss, but I think that’s where we go wrong.

You’re angry, let it go, breathe it out through your mouth. Whatever it is that you need to let go of, breathe it out. One forceful puff of air and the anger, or whatever it is for you, dissipates a little bit. Over and over breathe it out until it no longer remains. Can you feel that? The letting go gave you something, as though offering up what it is you need to let go of made room for something else. Something so unlike what you released it takes time to decipher the feeling. A sense of peace perhaps, or a calm acceptance of the loss? I think people could have any number of descriptions for it and they would all be right. The space created by the letting go is just that a space, you can fill it with anything your soul cries out for. But, do we need to fill it before the thing you released creeps its way back in. I think some of us will try just because that space makes us uncomfortable. The pause between breaths, that is where you find you. That quiet space is where you hide.

I don’t understand why any of us would hide from ourselves but we do it. I have done it and still do, a lot. Why is facing the truth of ourselves, the pure love that wants to radiate out of us so difficult? Everyone tells us the answers are out there somewhere. Feeling bad? Have another piece of cake, drink, spend money on anything, gamble, smoke, just grab something and stuff it into that space. We are afraid. We are afraid we will be rejected, ridiculed, laughed at, criticized, unloved and any other number of things we can imagine that will fuel that fear. We are deficient and lacking. We are never enough of something or enough for somebody.

I say you, just you are enough. With your wounds and scars you are enough. With your imperfect body and wrinkles, you are enough. With your heartache and tears, you are enough. Just be you, you are perfect in this moment. Love yourself, deeply and passionately until the space inside you grows so large there is room for everyone you meet. You surround them with love and now you are more than enough. For you are love itself and people can see it and feel it and they desire it. You are more than enough!

Hug everyone
Love yourself
Donna