Friday, January 30, 2015

1-30-2015


Mary’s Minute

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”                          Havelock Ellis

 “Abundance is a process of letting go; that which is empty can receive.”                    ~ Bryant McGill

 

     The phrase and concept of “letting go,” has been recently popularized by the song from Disney’s Frozen.  We use the term loosely sometimes with friends, and other times struggle to deal with letting go with pain or anger.  Letting go can mean a lot of different things.  It can mean forgiving ourselves, forgiving others, moving forward with new ideas, or letting go of something painful.  I was intrigued by the notion in the Ellis quote – the balance between letting go and holding on.  The greatest example in my life that I recall of that concept is in how I dealt with losing my dad.  I remember how I cried every day, and although I wanted to be able to function, I also didn’t want to let go too much that I would forget.  Holding on can mean keeping beautiful memories close to our hearts and learning from our experiences, but the delicate balance falls in not letting the past paralyze us.    

     Although we always need to learn from our past, there are certain feelings that we must release in order to live healthy, happy lives.  Holding on to bitterness, only hurts us.  That is where the McGill quote is helpful.  We know that hatred hurts the hater, not the hated.  When we harbor bad feelings for ourselves or others, or we hold on to old ideas, we fill space that can be filled with happiness and new beginnings. 

     Yes, we need to hold on to memories and learn from our mistakes, but we also must learn to, in the words of Elsa, “Let it go!” 

                                                                                    Have a great week!

                                                                                    Mary

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