“By letting it go it all gets done.  The world is won by those who let it go.  But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.”  -Lao Tzu

I am committed to leaning into the art of receiving. It is new territory for me and ironically one of the things that seems to come most clear from this early stage of practice is how essential it is to let go. It is not by holding onto anything that we receive, rather it is in diving into the flow and loving the wonder of not knowing where things come in.

Maybe it is fatigue that has finally brought me to this place where I find myself down on my knees in thanks and surrender.   Actually surrender is a kind of deep gratitude. Surrender is trusting the forces of the universe of goodness to circle around you and guide you when you don’t know what is next.

I just wrote an entire newsletter on the many gifts of release. It impacts every aspect of life- from the way we think to the way we feel in our body. It is the passage that opens us sexually, it is the way we feel freedom and peace. Still what is this mechanism? Is there a how-to or read directions on what happens when we let go?

Sadly no, like forgiveness or orgasm- there isn’t really a trying. In fact it could be argued the more you try, the further away you get. Same goes with letting go. There is no trying to it, there is just the grace to open your hands. There is just a light that goes on and then you know what is not yours to hold. There is some kind of trust that wakes up and reminds you this is growing up.

I am convinced that a life well lived has very little to do with what we accumulate in our lives. In fact, the people who made the biggest impacts were all about the letting go. We don’t have to hold onto the things that are most precious to us, they travel near to us always- this is the song of gratitude.